Domestic Space
by Sparks
Summary: The Doctor doesn’t do domestic, not even now he’s married to Rose. But he’s about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don’t do families...
1. Prologue

Title: Domestic Space

Rating: T

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground'. You must have read that in order to understand this.

Notes 2: The Doctor doesn't do domestic, not even now he's married to Rose. But he's about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don't do families…

* * *

Prologue

* * *

Rose stretched up, her fingertips reaching for the grate. Her toes ached with the pressure of trying to make herself taller. Tears of frustration threatened to leak from her eyes as again and again she couldn't reach the grate.

There was nothing in the cell she could use to raise herself. Nothing that could be used to help her escape. She collapsed onto the floor, a little scared. She was sure the Doctor would come for her, or die trying. It was the die trying bit she was worried about.

She really landed in it this time, she thought glumly. But after all, how was she to know that the owners of Centre Seven were violently anti-human? Really, the Doctor should have warned her.

She scratched behind her ear. To be fair, she had dragged him out of the TARDIS and into the shops fairly quickly. But he'd offered to take her shopping. It was his fault, really. Or not. Rose knew she wasn't blameless. At least this time she hadn't set a Dalek free, or unleashed a horde of giant felines.

She didn't have her watch – the special Time watch that the Doctor had given her on their 'honeymoon' had been taken from her – so she couldn't tell how much time passed before the door scraped open, sounding more like the door of a dungeon than she would admit.

One of the aliens – tall, incredibly thin, and orange-skinned – stepped into the cell. "You are claimed," it said in a nasal voice.

"Claimed?" Rose echoed, scrambling to her feet. "What does that mean? Claimed by who?"

The Doctor stuck his head through the doorway. "Oh, there she is," he said, seemingly disinterested. "Yes, that's her. Don't know how I lost her. Sorry for the trouble."

The alien nodded its head. "Be careful in future," it admonished. "Follow the rules. All pets to be kept under strict observation."

"Pets?" Rose repeated, outraged. "Why, you little – " The Doctor shook his head imperceptibly, and she subsided.

"We'll be off," he said. "Again, sorry for the bother." He reached out and grabbed her arm. "C'mon," he said.

As soon as they were free of the prison and nearing the TARDIS, Rose pulled her arm away from his grasp. "You could have warned me," she hissed. "I didn't know what was going on!"

"I'm sorry," he said curtly. "You rushed off without thinking. What were you doing? You know it's not always safe!"

"I didn't think you'd bring me someplace where humans are seen as pets," she snapped, pulling the door of the TARDIS open. She stormed in and crossed the control room, intent on having a shower. She needed hot water to sooth the bruises she'd got from the aliens that had arrested her.

"Where're you going?" the Doctor demanded, closing the door.

"Shower," she said crisply. "And then bed." She turned and glared at him. "Alone," she added firmly.

She spent half an hour in the shower, scrubbing at her skin until it was raw. She wouldn't tell the Doctor – wouldn't dare! – but two of the alien jailers had felt her up whilst she was in the prison. She felt dirty, objectified, and it was a feeling she loathed.

She pulled her hair back and plaited it, wanting it to dry wavy. Her favourite pyjamas had been warming, and she pulled them on. Somehow flannel and Tigger were needed right now.

She left the bathroom and crawled into the large bed that dominated the bedroom. The cool linen sheets soothed her skin and helped to ease her headache. She sighed and closed her eyes.

An arm slid around her face and cool lips pressed against her neck. "I'm sorry," the Doctor murmured.

"I shouldn't have gone off like that," she said in response.

His fingertips traced the hand-shaped bruise on her arm. "They hurt you." His arm tightened around her waist. "Anywhere else?"

Rose considered lying, but only for an instant. "Yes," she said instead. "They grabbed my arms pretty tight." She turned in his arms and got as close as possible to him. "Took my watch," she said, voice muffled by his jumper.

"Got it back for you."

"Thanks." She closed her eyes and rested in his arms, listening to his dual heartbeat.

"The TARDIS landed in the wrong time," he said after a while. "Wasn't meant to be like that. I'm sorry."

"S'alright," she breathed, almost asleep. He stroked her hair gently. "Love you, Theta."

He smiled absently. "Love you too, Rose." It was a moment before he spoke again. "I think you need a break."

Rose pulled away and looked at him, awake suddenly. "What?"

"A break." He shrugged. "We've been a bit busy lately."

Rose raised an eyebrow. 'A bit busy' hardly covered it. She'd been in two jails, three riots, an escape attempt and three natural disasters, all within the past month. "Might be nice to see Mum again," she allowed. "What brought all this on, then?"

"Well, it is your birthday soon," he reminded her. "Spend a few days with your mum, then go off somewhere peaceful…" His fingers crept under her pyjama top. "Secluded…"

Rose shivered and shifted so he could pull the top off. "Somewhere I can sunbathe," she agreed. He pressed kisses along her jaw and down her neck. "Private…"

"Perfect," he breathed.

* * *

Please review! Chapter one will be up tomorrow morning. 


	2. Day One

Title: Domestic Space

Rating: T

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground'. You must have read that in order to understand this.

Notes 2: The Doctor doesn't do domestic, not even now he's married to Rose. But he's about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don't do families…

* * *

Day One

* * *

The Doctor locked the TARDIS and cast a wary eye around. "If that kid puts graffiti on my ship again," he grumbled.

"He won't," Rose assured. "You warned him off." She slipped her arms around his waist and tilted her head up. "We, uh, ought to tell Mum about us, y'know."

The Doctor scowled. "Do we have to?"

"She's my Mum," Rose said, eyes wide. "And it has been six months. She ought to know." A smile curled her lips. Six months since they'd married in the chapel after her cousin's wedding. Six months of feeling secure in the knowledge that he did love her, after nearly two years of dancing around the subject. "It won't be that bad," she continued. "And I'll make it worth your while…"

He kissed her. "You'd better," he said when he pulled away, leaving her breathless. "I know this perfect spot, couple of galaxies over…"

She held up a finger. "Birthday with Mum first," she said firmly. "And you behave."

"Yes, dear," the Doctor smirked. He took her hand. "Into the Valley of Death."

"You be good," Rose scolded, setting off towards the estate and pulling him with her.

"I'm always good," he protested. "Except when I'm very, very bad."

She shot him an exasperated look. "Typical male," she pronounced. She started up the stairs, releasing his hand. "At least you're not obsessed with football," she continued.

"Nah, much more important things to see." They reached the flat and he paused. "Did you call and let her know we were coming?" he wanted to know.

"No," Rose said cheerfully, fitting her key into the lock and turning it. "Hello? Mum?" she called, stepping into the flat. "You here, Mum?"

"Rose?" There was a thump, and a moment later Jackie Tyler appeared. "Rose!" She hugged her daughter tight. "It's so good to see you! It's been months – why didn't you call?"

Rose smiled slightly. "Forgot. Sorry. Thought I'd come for my birthday." She frowned and looked back at the Doctor. "You did get the date right, didn't you?"

"He did," Jackie confirmed, smirking at the Doctor's outraged expression. "Your birthday's tomorrow."

"Rose!"

Rose blinked in surprise as cousins Izzy and Tim appeared in the entrance to the sitting room. "What are you two doing here?" she asked dumbly.

"We're going to a show tonight," Tim explained. "Came round to see Auntie Jackie first." He moved forward to hug his cousin. "You look well; where've you been this time, then?"

"Uh, Japan," Rose said, speaking the first name that came into her head. "Hey, Tim. Izzy." She hugged her favourite cousin. "I picked something tacky up for you," she said. "I'll bring it in later."

Izzy grinned. "Japan, huh? Have fun?" She looked at the Doctor, who was standing uncomfortably just inside the door. She laughed. "Poor thing!" she hooted. "You weren't expecting this much family, were you?"

"Just tell me Grandpa Mark's not here?" the Doctor said, a faint plea in his voice. Rose detached herself from Izzy and grinned at him.

"You've faced the stuff of nightmares, and you're scared of one old man?" she teased.

"Tylers are scary," he retorted. He eyed her mother. "Jackie," he greeted tersely.

"Doctor." She pursed her lips and looked him over. "You been sleeping? You look exhausted."

"Mum!" Rose exclaimed. "Do you have to?"

"Yes," Jackie said blithely. "Cup of tea?"

"Yeah, thanks," Rose nodded, letting Izzy pull her into the sitting room. She sent an apologetic look to the Doctor; he shrugged easily. "So, what've you guys been up to?"

"Doing my A levels," Izzy shrugged. "Working hard, that sort of thing." She grinned. "I got into Birmingham uni."

"Fantastic," Rose smiled. "What about you, Tim?"

"Not much," the other cousin shrugged. "Working on buying a house with a couple of other blokes. I got promoted, too."

"Great." Rose accepted the tea from her mother and curled up in the armchair. "Love interests?"

Tim poked Izzy, who flushed. "New boyfriend," she admitted. "He's…pretty cool."

"She's infatuated," Jackie proclaimed. "Remember you and Jimmy? Worse than that."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed," she commented. "Just don't leave school over him, yeah?"

"I wouldn't," Izzy shook her head. "I want to go into advertising, did I tell you that?" Rose shook her head. "I got a placement with Cadbury's for this summer."

"D'you get free chocolate?" the Doctor wanted to know, interested suddenly.

"Don't think so," Izzy shrugged. "How 'bout you, Rose? Anything special been going on?"

"No," Rose lied after a moment. "Nothing unusual. Just, y'know, travelling."

"You'll run out of places to go," Tim warned, leaning against a wall. "What'll you do then?"

Rose glanced up at the Doctor and smiled. "Never happen," she said, shaking her head again. "There's always somewhere else to see."

* * *

Rose stretched out on her bed, looking around at her bedroom. She didn't feel like this was her room anymore – it was a girl's room. The room of someone who hadn't seen what she had seen.

Izzy flopped next to her. "So, where've you been?" she asked. "Anywhere I might know?"

Rose smiled. "Nah. I can't name half of them – weird names. Besides, Tim might hear." She glanced at the door. Jackie was keeping Tim and the Doctor occupied so the cousins could catch up, but she knew her family well. "Just the usual. Saving planets, destroying governments, exposing corrupt officials."

"Visit any interesting times in history?" her cousin wanted to know, busying herself with plaiting Rose's hair. "You're careful, right? You remember that Blackadder episode where he messed it all up…"

"Very careful," Rose confirmed. "There's rules and things." And she followed them, usually. She fiddled with her rings. "Saw Elizabeth the first," she offered.

Izzy wasn't paying attention anymore. Her eyes were caught by the ring on Rose's finger.

"Rose," she began in a strange voice, "why've you got a ring on that finger?" Rose flushed. "You didn't. You didn't! Tell me your mum knows about this."

"No," Rose admitted, trying to hide her hand in her sleeve. "Don't you tell her either, yeah?"

"Tell me what?" Jackie asked from the bedroom door. Rose looked up guiltily. "Rose? What's going on?"

"Nothing, Mum," Rose said quickly. "Just…I got a new scar, s'all. On my arm." In the hallway behind Jackie, the Doctor flinched slightly. "Here, look," Rose continued, shoving her sleeve up. "It's fine. Not anything bad." She lowered her arm slowly, watching as her mother's gaze followed her hand. "Oh. Um. Listen, I can explain."

"Explain?" Jackie echoed. "Explain how you're wearing a wedding ring?" She rounded on the Doctor. "You!"

The Doctor took a step backwards, but Tim was behind him so he couldn't escape far. "Now, listen, Jackie," he said, trying to placate her. "It really isn't as –,"

She slapped him.

"Ouch!"

"Mum!" Rose exclaimed, getting off the bed and pushing past her mother. She caught the Doctor's chin and looked at his cheek. "You'll live," she told him, and turned to Jackie. "Mum!"

Jackie folded her arms. "This had better be good," she warned, fairly bristling with anger. "You come back here – after six months – and you're married to him!"

"Auntie Jackie, it was only a matter of time," Tim pointed out. "Anyone can see they're head over heels for each other."

"Stay out of it, Tim," Jackie said crisply. "I'm talking to my daughter."

"I'm not a child, Mum," Rose snapped. "I can make my own decisions. I love you, you're my Mum, but you don't get to decide what's right for me anymore." Her hand flew to her mouth and she looked horrified at the words she'd said. "I didn't – I don't –" She faltered at the look on Jackie's face; she was never gladder of the Doctor's comforting presence at her side, arm slipping around her waist.

Silence reigned in the flat. Rose and Jackie stared at each other. Izzy shifted, uncomfortable, on the bed.

"I didn't mean to come here and say that," Rose said at last. "I'm sorry, Mum. But I love him, and I married him, and I can't let you stop me being happy."

"Rose, that's the last thing I want," Jackie exclaimed, shocked at the thought. "I just…why didn't you tell me? You don't think I'd want to be there, for my only child's wedding?"

"It just…happened," Rose tried to explain. "We didn't think about it, it just…"

"Just happened," the Doctor nodded.

Jackie closed her eyes. "When?"

Rose shifted awkwardly. "Uh…six months ago." She grabbed the Doctor's hand. "After…after Bella's wedding."

Izzy shook her head incredulously. "How?" she demanded. "Without anyone knowing?"

"It was while everyone was going to the reception," the Doctor volunteered.

Jackie folded her arms. "Well?" she demanded, staring at the Doctor. "You love her, then?"

"Yes," the Doctor said immediately. "Always have, always will." Rose drew closer to him, and he held her tightly.

"But it's not safe."

"That's not important," Rose said softly. "Not…not with him."

Jackie's eyes narrowed. "Just tell me you're not pregnant," she said demandingly.

The Doctor choked. "You're not, are you?" he asked.

Rose looked as appalled as he did. "No!" She pulled away and turned to face him. "Why, wouldn't you want my baby?"

Faced with glares from two Tyler women, the Doctor did the only thing he could possibly do. He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a packet of sweets.

"Jellybean?" he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice. Behind him Tim guffawed.

"You'll never get out of this one," he said cheerfully. "I'm hungry; anyone want Chinese?"

"Sweet and sour pork," Rose said quickly, throwing a thankful look at her cousin. "Ooh, and prawn crackers. I love them." She slipped past the Doctor and joined Tim in the sitting room. "I'll come with you," she offered.

"You're not going anywhere," Jackie ruled. "Tim and Izzy can go for Chinese." She grabbed the Doctor's arm and pushed him into the sitting room. "You, sit," she said firmly to Rose, and shoved the Doctor onto the couch. Rose sat next to him, scratching nervously behind her ear. "Tim, you buy it and I'll pay you back, yeah?"

Tim nodded. "Sure, Auntie Jackie. Anyone want anything special?" The Doctor opened his mouth to answer, but Jackie glared at him and he subsided. "Okay. We'll be back in half an hour or so." He jerked his head at the door. "C'mon, Izzy."

The two cousins departed. Rose curled her feet under her, watching her mother carefully.

"I was going to tell you," she said after a moment. "When we came back – and this is the first time, so…"

"But you didn't tell me, Rose," Jackie reminded her wearily. "I found out." She sat down. "Look, I'm happy for you," she said, unconvincingly. "But I just…" She spared the Doctor a cursory glance. "He's an alien, Rose."

Rose grinned. "Not so much. Not after some of the things I've seen." She glanced sideways at her husband – and she'd never get over thinking or saying that! – and smirked. "At least he isn't blue."

The Doctor frowned slightly. "What's wrong with being blue?" he wanted to know.

"Nothing," Rose said airily. "Just, y'know, aside from the obvious? They're all so…" She cast about for the right word. "Small."

Jackie smiled sadly. She'd accepted the loss of her daughter months before, but seeing her like this was like a kick in the guts. She sometimes wondered whether they'd all be better off if Rose just didn't come home again.

* * *

Jackie had finally stopped asking about the marriage, and whether Rose was sure about it and about the Doctor, and they'd all enjoyed the Chinese for lunch – including the Doctor. Rose didn't think he particularly minded Tim and Izzy, even if he still did proclaim loudly and vehemently that he didn't do domestic.

In fact, he'd been enjoying arguing the respective merits of iPods over other MP3 players with Tim so much that Rose had felt able to slip down to the TARDIS to pick up her gift for Izzy.

She hadn't expected to find Mickey perched on the dustbin by the TARDIS, reading a paper and waiting for her.

"Mickey," she called out, shoving her hands in her pockets and slowing slightly. "Hi."

Mickey looked up, a grin on his face. "Rose! Didn't know if you were in there or not," he indicated the TARDIS, "and no-one answered when I knocked, so…"

"We're visiting Mum," Rose said. "For my birthday."

"Right, that's tomorrow," Mickey nodded.

"You been here long?" Rose wanted to know. She felt slightly uncomfortable with Mickey now. Technically speaking, she'd never officially broken up with him…

"Nah, just a few minutes," Mickey shook his head. "So, how's things?"

Rose smiled. "Great," she said. "I'm having a fantastic time. It's just amazing. The things I've seen…" She patted the TARDIS fondly.

"Yeah?" Mickey smiled. "Almost makes me wish I'd come with you." He looked a little uncomfortable suddenly. "Only, I, uh…I met someone."

Rose gave a genuine smile. "Good," she said sincerely. "I'm glad. I am," she assured on his sceptical look. "I, um…" She pulled her left hand out of her pocket. "I, uh, got married…"

Mickey gaped, but only for a moment. "He married you? Mister I don't do domestic? Got married?"

"He asked, actually," Rose grinned. "Been six months now." She hesitated, then moved forward and hugged him. "I do miss you."

"Yeah?" Mickey scratched his nose awkwardly. "Well, I…I miss you too." He slipped off the bin and shoved his hands in his pockets. "So how'd Jackie take the news?"

Rose's face scrunched up in amusement. "She slapped him again. Honestly, my Mum…"

"Scary woman," Mickey agreed fervently. "She's insane, she is."

"Nah, just protective," Rose shook her head. "So who's this new girl, then?"

"Uh, Nadia." He gave a smile. "Y'know, works at the radio station." Rose nodded; she had a dim recollection of the girl in question. "She's brilliant."

"You happy, then?" she wanted to know.

"Yeah," he nodded. He looked at her carefully; more carefully that he usually did. "You? Does he make you happy?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, he does," she confirmed. "He –"

"Rose!"

Rose rolled her eyes. "He can be a bit jealous," she murmured, turning to watch the Doctor as he approached. "Sorry," she called out. "Didn't mean to be so long. Ran into Mickey."

"Right." The Doctor looked Mickey over. "Ricky. How's it going?"

"It's Mickey," the Londoner corrected, but with a thread of amusement in his voice. "I'm good, Doctor. You?"

"Fine." The Doctor slipped an arm around Rose, and she elbowed him in the stomach. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Mickey was just telling me about his new girlfriend," she said, a warning glint in her eyes. "Nadia. Works at the radio station. Dyes her hair crazy colours."

The Doctor relaxed slightly, noticeable only to Rose who knew him well. "Oh. Good for you, Mickey," he nodded. "You keeping up with that website?"

"What website?" Rose demanded, as Mickey looked a little sheepish. "Mickey? What website?"

"I couldn't do it," Mickey told the Doctor. "I couldn't wipe it all. People deserve to know."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Oh, and what about the dangerous bit?"

The human shrugged. "It's not that bad. Haven't had any governments knocking on my door, have I? Nobody cares about some idiot's website, do they?"

"Website about what?" Rose questioned.

"I'll have to post the good news," Mickey went on, a sly smile tugging at his mouth. "'Bout you and Rose getting married."

"It's a website about the Doctor?" Rose worked out, looking from human to alien and back again.

"Don't you dare," the Doctor said quickly, looking horrified. "I've got a reputation to maintain, me."

"Yeah, intergalactic playboy," Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get that thing for Izzy." She opened the door of the TARDIS, then looked back. "You two behave," she warned. "I won't be five minutes."

"No, wait, I'm coming in too," the Doctor said quickly. "Nice to see you again, Mickey. Now run home."

Rose scowled. "Stop winding him up," she ordered.

"Yes, dear."

Mickey laughed. "You're nuts, you two," he proclaimed. "I'm off. Maybe see you before you disappear again, Rose?"

"Sure," she nodded. "We'll be here a couple of days." The Doctor mumbled something and she poked his shoulder. "We will be," she reiterated. "Bye, Mickey."

* * *

The Doctor scowled. He looked, Rose thought privately, like a little boy sulking. Which probably wasn't too far from the truth.

"I don't see why we have to do this," he complained, hands in his pockets as he trailed the three cousins.

"You don't have to come," Izzy threw back, smirking. "But Rose is."

"Not going to miss this," Rose nodded. "And you can either come, or go sulk." She reached a hand back; he took it automatically. "It'll be fun," she tried to persuade him. "It's s'posed to be this really romantic musical, and a meal…"

"With them?" he demanded, glancing at Tim and Izzy. "Hmph."

Tim smirked, keeping his face ahead. "Just pretend we're part of the furniture. Walls or something." He stopped and looked back. "Only, uh, visible bits of furniture that have no desire to see Rose and her hubby doing anything."

Rose grinned; the Doctor sulked.

"It'll be good," Izzy said in a no-nonsense manner that was eerily reminiscent of the three aunts, Jackie, Julie and Bridget. "We got good seats, and it's 'Phantom'. Good music. I'm not a musicals person generally, but…"

"Did you see the film? With Emmy Rossum?" Tim wanted to know.

"Oh, what's-his-name was so cool as the Phantom," Rose gushed. "They did that so well. He was just gorgeous!"

"Oi!" the Doctor said indignantly. "D'you mind?"

"Not at all," Rose said, smiling up at him. "You're the only bloke for me." She laughed suddenly. "Look, isn't that – "

The Doctor shook his head in amusement. "I told you; it stays there for years." He paused, looking at the restaurant. "We should eat there. Good food."

Izzy scoffed. "On our budget? Are you kidding me?"

The Doctor shrugged. "My treat. What d'you say?"

Tim looked sceptically at the restaurant. "Looks like the kind of place you have to have a reservation," he commented.

"I've got one," the Doctor shrugged.

"Standing reservation," Rose explained. "He's, uh, friends with the owners."

"Sort of," the Doctor nodded. "Shall we?" He strode towards the building, pulling Rose along with him. She sent apologetic looks back at her cousins, who trailed along.

"Woah," Izzy whispered as they stepped through the glass doors. "This is so cool."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah." He approached the maitre'd. "Table, please, for four."

The man looked him over, clearly unimpressed. "Do you have a reservation?"

"Sort of. I'm the Doctor."

The man did a double take. "The Doctor? Of course, sir. If you will wait here for one moment…" He disappeared through a door, and the Doctor grinned at Rose. She shook her head in amusement.

"You're so full of it," she told him.

"Who the hell _are_ you?" Tim asked in amazement. "You're just – "

"Yup," the Doctor nodded. The man returned and led them through the restaurant. "Food's great," he enthused. "Just, uh, keep Rose away from the red wine."

"It was only once," Rose said, trying to look like a victim. "And you were the one who ordered it. And besides, that was three hu – " She cut herself off quickly. "Ages ago," she said instead.

Tim gave her a weird look and sat down at the table. "Okay," he shrugged. "So, we getting starters?"

"Ooh, do they still do those prawns in that sauce?" Rose wanted to know, surveying the menu.

"You're not getting those," the Doctor said at once.

"Why not?" she asked, frowning at him. He looked pointedly at her, and she nodded, flushing. "Alright. Fine. No prawns." She looked studiously at the menu.

Izzy shook her head, grinning widely. "You guys are so insane," she proclaimed. "I love it!"

It was nearly one by the time they got back to the estate, and if Tim thought to question why Rose and the Doctor didn't go up to the flat with he and Izzy, he didn't say anything. Rose and the Doctor made sure the cousins were both well out of sight before they entered the TARDIS.

"There," Rose smiled. "That wasn't so bad, yeah?"

The Doctor scowled and checked something at the console. "Yeah, yeah. We have to be here all day tomorrow?"

"You're the one that said I needed a break," Rose pointed out. "And it is my birthday tomorrow." She frowned slightly. "So…how old am I, again?"

"Twenty two." He glanced up at her. "Real time and your Mum's time." He finished what he was doing and held a hand out to her. "Glad you had fun," he said sincerely. "You look tired."

Rose shrugged, yawning, and moved to lean into him. "Not that tired," she denied. "Bed?"

"Definitely."

* * *

Please review! Next part up within a few days, revision allowing. Stupid exams... 


	3. Day Two

Title: Domestic Space

Rating: T

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground'. You must have read that in order to understand this.

Notes 2: The Doctor doesn't do domestic, not even now he's married to Rose. But he's about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don't do families…

* * *

Day Two

* * *

There was something moving around in the TARDIS that didn't belong there.

Even Rose knew it didn't belong there. Every sense she had attuned to the TARDIS over long months was screaming at her that something was wrong.

She poked the Doctor. "Wake up," she hissed. He mumbled something and rolled over. "Doctor! Wake up!"

The Doctor opened one eye. "I'm trying to sleep," he said pointedly. "Somebody kept me up half the night."

"Listen," she said sharply. "Listen to that."

"What are you on ab-" He stopped. "Oh." He frowned, that peculiar frown that was half-smile and full of anticipation. "That's not right."

"I didn't think so," Rose nodded. She rolled out of bed and grabbed the nearest pair of clean jeans. "I'll take the lower floors, shall I?" She paused. "Oh, and you weren't objecting last night as I recall."

"Ha ha," he muttered. "Don't do anything stupid," he warned then, pulling on his trousers. "It can't be anything too bad – can't think how it got on board…probably turn out to be a stray cat, or something." He glanced at her and paused. "That's my shirt," he objected.

Rose shrugged, rolling the cuffs over several times. "It's nice," she said. "Get on, then. We'd better find this thing quick."

He rounded the bed and caught her sleeve. "Hold on," he said quickly. "Just…" He bent his head and kissed her. She hummed happily into his mouth, her hand reached up to clutch his shoulder. "Morning," he said softly when he released her. "Happy birthday."

Rose smiled. "I love you, Theta," she said quietly. He touched her cheek gently, and she hummed. "C'mon," she started after a moment, "let's find our stowaway. Then I can go get my presents!"

"Bloody child, you are," he grumbled, grabbing a shirt and pulling it over his head as he moved towards the door. "Feed Charlie while you're down there, will you?"

"S'your turn," she objected.

"Yeah, but he likes you better," the Doctor countered, heading towards the stairs. "Meet you in the control room. Half an hour."

"Yeah, yeah," Rose murmured, walking down the corridor to the other flight of stairs. "Half an hour my arse." She went down all six levels, then started her search. She couldn't hear the noise down here – she thought it was more likely that the Doctor would find the intruder. How the thing – whatever it was – had got in, she didn't know. The TARDIS was usually quite particular about who she let in.

When she'd searched the lowest three floors, she entered the labyrinth of corridors that was Charlie's home, and made sure there was food out for him.

"Charlie," she called out. "C'mon, boy, where are you?" She frowned when there was no answering call. "Charlie?" The intruder might have scared him off, she reasoned, but that wasn't very likely. Charlie wasn't scared by most things.

A wave of nausea swept over her suddenly, and she leaned against the wall for long minutes, waiting for it to pass. Eventually she managed to slowly push herself upright, then she dropped to her knees and threw up.

"Great," she muttered when she was done, pushing herself away from the mess. "Happy birthday, Rose."

She almost knocked over a glass of water that had appeared; she took a drink and gave an absent smile.

"Thanks, Charlie," she called out. She fought the urge to throw up again. "Must have eaten something off," she murmured, and dragged herself to her feet. "I'll come see you later, Charlie," she called out.

She returned to the stairs and slowly made her way up; the Doctor met her halfway to the control room.

"Rose? You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I, uh, threw up…" She waved off his supporting arms. "Didn't find whatever it is. Any luck?"

"A bit," the Doctor nodded. "Infirmary."

"I'm fine," Rose protested. "Probably just some bad Chinese." He looked at her patiently. "I'm fine," she said again. "So, you know what this thing is?" She moved past him to the nearby bathroom, and rinsed her mouth and washed her hands as she waited for an answer. He watched her carefully before speaking.

"Yes," he said at last. "I do. It's trouble."

She looked up at him, drying her hands. "You don't look as excited as normal," she commented. "Bad trouble?"

"Yes," he confirmed grimly. "Fairly bad." He held out his hand, and she took it. "I'll explain in the control room," he went on. "Better go see your mum, too."

* * *

"So it's a kind of space-time hitch-hiker?" Rose tried to clarify, leaning on the Doctor's shoulder to try to see the screen.

"Sort of," he responded absently. "Only it doesn't ask to come along, it just…grabs hold of the slipstream we leave behind us. Dunno how it actually got _in_…"

"So what's it look like?"

"Humanoid, only…miniature."

Rose blinked. "Like a dwarf?"

"Sort of," the Doctor nodded. "Good thing it is in here, actually, they cause all sorts of trouble." He grinned. "Your mum'd kill me if I let it get loose."

Rose pursed her lips. "Oh, and that's why you had your 'bad trouble' look?" she questioned gently. "I don't think so." She slipped her hand into the back pocket of his trousers. "What is it? What does it do?"

He pressed a button and the screen went blank. "Nothing very nice," he admitted. "It had a tendency to rip holes in time."

Rose winced; she had a vague idea of what that meant, after over two years of travelling with the Doctor.

"But it's in the TARDIS, right? So it can't cause too much damage," she said, trying to be optimistic.

"Yes, for now," he nodded. "If it gets out…"

"If it does, we'll deal with it," Rose said practically. "But it's in here, so it's alright. Now. I want my presents."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "What makes you think I got you anything?"

"You disappeared for three whole hours on Jupiter Seven," she reminded him. "There's nothing there but shops." She drew him around so he was facing her. "And last year you got me presents, and since we're together this year you ought to know better than to not get me anything." She leaned up and kissed him. "So, presents?"

He grinned. "Third study," he admitted. "Think Charlie got you something too, just to warn you…"

Rose raised an eyebrow. Last year, Charlie's present to her had been a box of rusted and dust-covered nails that he'd apparently found somewhere in the TARDIS. She thought it was quite sweet, really, but…

"Ah well," she shrugged. "S'the thought, right?"

"I love you," the Doctor said softly. "Did I tell you in the last minute?"

"No."

"I love you."

"I love you," Rose told him. "And you're so mushy."

He grinned. "Yup." There was a knock from the outer door of the TARDIS, and his grin turned into a frown. "Your mum's not coming in here," he said firmly.

Rose detached herself from him, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, yeah." She went to the door and pulled it open to reveal Izzy. "Morning," she greeted.

"Morning," Izzy said, peeking over Rose's shoulder to catch a glimpse of the time ship. "Um, Auntie Jackie sent me to fetch you…better come quick, before Tim comes out asking questions."

"Sure," Rose nodded. She turned to the Doctor. "It's safe to leave that thing in here, right?"

The Doctor looked slightly apprehensive. "I'm not sure," he confessed. "It should be." He checked the key was in his pocket, then pulled his jacket on. "Right, let's go," he said. "Sooner we go, sooner we can leave."

"Time isn't going to speed up for you," Rose said, amused. "You can try, but –" She was cut off as something raced past her, knocking her against the door of the TARDIS. Her eyes widened. "Damn, that's it!" She took off after the creature at a run.

"Rose!" the Doctor called. "Don't, Rose!" She didn't listen to him. "Bloody human," he muttered, leaving the TARDIS and locking it quickly. "You, stay here," he instructed Izzy. But Rose returned before he could follow her.

"I lost it," she reported, disgruntled. "Runs fast, for such small legs." She put her hands on her hips. "Dammit." Her mouth dropped opened suddenly, eyes fixed on a point past the TARDIS. "Oh…shit…"

"What?" Izzy demanded, and turned to see Tim standing, gaping at them. "Oh." She turned back to Rose. "What was that thing? It looked like a leprechaun or something."

"Cousin of," the Doctor corrected, leaning against the blue box and watching Rose carefully. "What you gonna tell him?" he wanted to know.

"Um." Rose scratched behind her ear and slowly took a few steps towards Tim. "Tim…hi…"

"That…was a child?" Tim questioned, moving towards the three. "It ran out of that box."

"Not a child," the Doctor told him. "Humanoid, sentient life form from the other side of the universe."

Rose sent him a scolding look. "Oh, great, thanks, Doctor. That's really gonna stop him panicking." The Doctor shrugged unrepentantly, and she shook her head. "Tim…"

"I'm confused," Tim said slowly. "If that was an alien…and you three know what it was…"

"I don't," Izzy chimed in.

"There's something you're not telling me," Tim addressed Rose. "What's going on? Why are you standing outside with a –" he glanced at the box, "telephone box?" He looked at the Doctor, who looked to Rose for his cue. She shrugged.

"I'm an alien from another planet," the Doctor announced. "That thing was another alien. Rose has been travelling around time and space with me."

Tim blinked several times. "O-kay," he said slowly. "Um…Rose?"

She grinned. "Sorry, Tim, but it's true."

"Oh," Tim nodded. "That's nice." He looked at Izzy. "Did they hit their heads?"

"Idiot," the Doctor muttered. Rose glared at him. "Well, honestly, how stupid can you be?"

"It's a logical question," Rose tried to excuse her cousin. "But, um, no, we didn't hit our heads," she told Tim. "Aliens are, uh, real."

Tim opened his mouth to speak, then looked at the Doctor and frowned. "Actually…that makes sense," he allowed.

* * *

"No."

"Doctor."

"No!"

"We can only find it quicker with four," Rose coaxed.

The Doctor looked almost scared. "Rose! I don't do domestic."

"Bloody liar," she said bluntly. "We can't just leave Tim like this – at least Mickey got to see the inside – and if we take Izzy for a spin, she'll stop nagging at me about it."

"But – but –" he sputtered. He waved his arms in the general direction of Izzy and Tim. "But they're – they're – "

"Yes?" Rose asked, eyebrow raised. "Look, I'll make sure they don't get into any trouble."

"Oh, and that's supposed to reassure me?" he asked with a smile. He leaned back against the TARDIS. "Your Mum'll kill us both," he foretold. "It's not going to be pretty, Rose. This creature's no dwarf, even if it looks like it."

"I just don't think it's fair on them," Rose said softly after a moment. "To just leave them without a proper explanation. You didn't do that to me."

"You're different." They looked at each other, then finally the Doctor nodded. "Alright. Just while we find this thing," he warned. "And you make sure they keep out of my way."

"It'll be fine," she soothed him, stretching up and kissing him gently. "I promise."

He gave a put-upon sigh and slipped his arms around her waist. "It better be," he muttered.

Rose kissed him again, then slipped from his grasp and went over to Tim and Izzy. Her cousins were standing by a garage door, Izzy talking rapidly and Tim nodding as if he understood.

"Hey," she greeted. "You alright, Tim?"

"Yeah, fine," the elder cousin nodded. "I just, uh…it's a lot to take in, y'know. That Josh was right, that aliens exist…that you're married to one."

Rose gave a wry smile. "Yeah, well." She bit her lip. "Um…we've got to go find that thing. The Doctor thinks it's jumped through a weak point in time, or something, and we've got to catch up with it before it does any damage. So…"

"So you're off?" Izzy grimaced. "You only just got here yesterday."

"This is important," Rose shrugged. "Do you…d'you want to come?"

Tim blinked. "Into space?" he clarified.

"And time," Rose nodded. "Well?"

Izzy let out a breath. "What does the Doctor say?" she wanted to know.

"You're allowed. Just for this one trip, to find the creature. Then back home." Rose grinned. "Figure it'll get you off my back about it, Izzy."

"I…um…space travel?" Tim questioned.

"Yes," Rose said, slightly impatient. "In the TARDIS. With me and the Doctor and Izzy."

A slow grin spread across his face. "Oh yeah," he agreed. "Let's go!"

"The TARDIS is…odd," Rose warned as they returned to the blue police box. The Doctor had disappeared into it. "It's…bigger on the inside."

"So…this is it?" Tim checked, looking at the box. "It's…"

"Tiny," Izzy agreed. "But inside, it's huge."

"You've been in there?"

She nodded. "Yeah, last time Rose was here, for Bella's wedding." She pushed the TARDIS door open. "Knock knock, Doctor," she called cheerily. "You ready for us?"

"Not hardly," the Doctor retorted. "Come in, then, if you're coming."

Izzy entered and glanced around. "Hasn't changed," she grinned.

"Wouldn't, would it?" Rose said, pulling Tim inside and shutting the door. "Not with him in charge of decorating."

"Alright!" the Doctor said defensively. "Can we get a move on, please?" He glanced at Tim, snorted, and returned his attention to the screen in front of him. "Rose, c'mere."

"You alright?" she checked with Tim, who nodded, then joined him at the console. "What is it, then?"

"I can trace where it jumped," he told her, "but after that, I don't know. It leaves a trail, we'll have to follow that."

"Bumpy ride?" she questioned.

He grinned. "Yup." He spared a look for her cousins. "You two, grab hold of something, don't ask questions, and don't get in the way," he instructed.

"I –"

"Don't. Get. In. The. Way," he repeated slowly and clearly.

"Sit down, hold tight," Rose advised, grabbing onto the console. The Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS whirred into motion. Rose nearly fell; Tim stumbled into Izzy and they collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Bloody hell," Rose sputtered. "I know you said bumpy, but…"

"Hold that button down," the Doctor told her.

"I'm holding it already!" she protested.

"Well, pull the lever, then!"

Izzy watched, bemused and amused from her position on the floor, as the Doctor and Rose coaxed and controlled the TARDIS. The ship shook and jolted for what seemed like minutes without end before the Doctor finally have a happy cry.

"Got him!" he exclaimed. "Fifteen forty-one – no, wait, that's not it…where's he going? Now he's in twenty-five thousand and six…"

"Not helpful, Doctor," Rose said. "How close to it are we?"

"Nearly there." He grinned at her. "And…" He pushed a lever, and the TARDIS shuddered to a halt. He frowned. "Oh, wait…"

"Wrong place?" Rose said, entirely too cheerful.

"Not exactly," the Doctor said. "Wrong time." He looked over at Tim and Izzy. "You alright?" he asked.

Tim stood up carefully. "I think," he began carefully, "that I might be sick."

The Doctor made a face. "Not in my TARDIS, you don't," he said with conviction. "Out the door, if you please."

"Uh, I'll go first," Rose interjected hurriedly as Izzy started for the door. "Just in case…

"Oh, and I'll feel so much better if it's you that gets eaten, not your cousins," the Doctor muttered.

"Is that likely?" Izzy asked, looking curiously between her cousin and the alien. "That we'd get eaten, I mean?"

"Nah," Rose shook her head. "We're still on earth." She grinned. "Only thing likely to eat you here is Auntie Julie, and she's thousands of years away." She opened the door and poked her head out. "Oh, I've been here before." She stepped aside and let Izzy and Tim leave the TARDIS. She crossed the control room to the Doctor. "What is it?" she asked softly. "Something's wrong."

"In this time, it can cross space as well as time," he explained in a low voice. "So much space travel going on, it's easy. But it makes things a lot more difficult for us."

"Damn." Rose chewed her lip. "Can you track it, though?"

"Probably, yeah," he nodded. "We'll have to go quick, though. Get them two in here, would you?"

"Sure," she nodded, slipping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest.

"Sorry," he said after a moment.

"What for?" she wanted to know.

He shrugged. "S'not turning out a great birthday, is it?"

Rose smiled. "Idiot," she said fondly. "You still don't get it." She went after Izzy and Tim.

* * *

Please review! Day Three up as soon as I can write it. Can't give you an estimate, 'cos I'm currently suffering from a nasty cold, plus my exams start on the sixth, and my revision has been sadly lacking so far... 


	4. Day Three

Title: Domestic Space

Rating: T

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground'. You must have read that in order to understand this.

Notes 2: The Doctor doesn't do domestic, not even now he's married to Rose. But he's about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don't do families…

Notes 3: Sorry it took so long, but I've been revising and cramming for my exams. I've nearly done half of them now, though, so hopefully it'll speed up a bit. Assuming I don't perish the moment I open my Latin literature paper tomorrow afternoon, that is…

* * *

Day Three

* * *

They'd spent the rest of the day hurtling through time and space trying to find the creature. After a while, Rose had made sure the Doctor could manage on his own and taken her cousins through to the kitchen, and later to bedrooms.

It was morning now, and Rose was throwing up.

The Doctor leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom. "Some bad Chinese," he commented, repeating her words of the day before as she wiped her mouth and flushed the toilet. "Infirmary, Rose."

"No," Rose said resolutely. "I don't need it." She washed her hands and face carefully, then leaned against the sink. "I'm alright," she said.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "Sure you are. You want breakfast?" Her stomach somersaulted at the thought and nearly had her back on her knees in front of the toilet. "That's a no, then."

"No," she confirmed, slowly turning and leaving the bathroom. "No, I think I'm just gonna lie down for a bit."

He watched her, concerned. "You want a cup of tea, or anything? There's that Rivellian stuff, s'posed to help when you're sick."

"It tastes like pond scum," she retorted. "No thanks." She pulled the blankets over herself with a sigh. "Could use a cuddle, though," she said, almost as an afterthought. He grinned and climbed into the bed next to her. She sighed happily as he wrapped himself around her. "S'nice."

"This is the second day, Rose. I'm worried."

"It's just a bug or something," she excused. "You'd worry if I got a paper cut, you would."

"Most likely," the Doctor agreed. "C'mon, we'd better get up. Don't want to leave your cousins running around without you.

"Without us, you mean," Rose corrected.

The Doctor looked horrified. "Oh, no. No. You can show them around the TARDIS yourself. I'm going to try to find that time jumper."

"Won't you need help?" Rose wanted to know.

"I managed nine hundred years without you, you know," the Doctor said dryly. "I think I can survive for a couple of hours."

"Says the one who doesn't like letting me out of his sight when I shower," she countered.

"Ah, no, that's entirely different," he said solemnly. "That involves you naked." She laughed and poked him. "Nah, it'll be fine. Just try to keep them away from Charlie, yeah?"

"He wouldn't hurt them," Rose said with certainty.

"Wouldn't put it past him," the Doctor shrugged, pulling away from her and rolling out of the bed. He pulled his jacket on. "Come on, Rose."

"Slave driver," she muttered, and climbed out of bed after him. "Total slave driver."

Fifteen minutes later, she pushed Izzy into the room she'd given Tim.

"Morning, Timmy," she greeted. "Time to get up!"

Tim threw a pillow at her and pulled the duvet over his head. Izzy giggled.

"C'mon, Tim, there's a whole spaceship to explore," she reminded him. "Rose is gonna show us around."

"And if we don't hurry up," Rose said, "you'll miss the rain in the Water Room."

Tim's head appeared. "Rain?" he asked sceptically. "Inside?"

"Sort of," Rose grinned. "C'mon, get dressed. Izzy and me'll be in the kitchen."

"Which is where?"

"Three doors down on the right," Rose told him. "And then up the stairs. It's the orange room at the end."

"Right," Tim nodded. "Bugger off so I can get dressed."

* * *

"Rose? Rose, where are you?"

Rose sighed and stuck her head out of the door. "Yes, husband mine?" she asked wryly, eyes twinkling at him.

He grinned at her. "I found it. The time jumper. It's managed to get to the other side of the galaxy somehow."

Rose frowned. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Neither, really. As long as the TARDIS can get us there." He patted the metal wall affectionately. "Hundreds of rooms to choose from, and you pick the film room," he continued. "Honestly, little humans."

"Tim picked," Rose protested. "This was enough of a shock for him as it is." She grabbed the lapel of his jacket and pulled him down for a kiss. "You need help, then?"

"Wouldn't mind," he nodded. "Those two can stay here, though."

"Let me tell them." Rose ducked back into the room for a moment, then reappeared, closing the door behind her firmly. The Doctor laughed.

"You do think Charlie'll get them," he said gleefully, starting down the corridor to the control room. "He doesn't open doors."

Rose sniffed. "I do not. I just don't think they should wander around, that's all." She slipped her arm through the Doctor's. "Remember when I was first here, I was getting into trouble all the time."

"Yeah, but no one finds trouble quite like you do," he pointed out. He paused just inside the control room and backed her against the wall. "You feeling better?" he wanted to know.

"Yep," she nodded, looking up at him. "Good as new." She kissed him softly. "You're a sweetheart," she proclaimed.

"Don't tell anyone."

"Would I do that?"

The Doctor grinned. "If you do, I can always tell that story about you and the time you drank an entire bottle of Rivellajian whisky."

Rose pushed him gently. "You wouldn't dare," she said, a faint note of worry in her voice. "C'mon, let's get going, yeah?"

The Doctor grinned. "Right. Start her off?"

Rose stuck her tongue out at him, went to the console and pulled a lever. "One day, you'll stop trying to catch me out," she said.

"One day you'll get it wrong," the Doctor said, sounded very disgruntled, and grabbed hold of the console. "She likes you too much."

"Well, I like her too," Rose reasoned. "Good old TARDIS."

"Less of the old," the Doctor objected, twisting a dial. He swore suddenly. "That little pest! It's gone and jumped again."

"Time or space?"

"Time. I really don't want to make a trip to Ancient Terallia, thanks very much." He raced around the console, nearly knocking Rose over, and slammed his hand against the console. "Behave," he ordered the contrary time ship.

"Please," Rose added in a mutter, ducking out of the way. She hit a switch as something lit up. "That was bloody close," she said.

"Just a sun," the Doctor said, concentrating. "The TARDIS would've missed it without help…"

"What, like last time?" Rose shook her head and almost fell over as the TARDIS gave a lurch.

"Oh yes, it's moved!" the Doctor said exultantly. "Goodbye, Terallia."

"Why don't you like it there?" Rose asked, ducking under his arms as he dashed around the console, jabbing at buttons. "Isn't that where they grow that fruit you like so much?"

"Yes, but the people are rather opposed to men, in that time," the Doctor grinned. "I'd have to pose as your slave, and I don't fancy that much."

Rose smirked. "Oh, like you're not already?" He gaped at her and she nodded at the monitor. "Come on, then. Where is it?"

"It's stopped," the Doctor said, after watching the screen for a moment. He frowned. "That's odd."

"What is?" She inched around the console and ducked under his arm so he was holding her. "Catalla Four," she read aloud. "When are we, then?"

"About five thousand years in your future," the Doctor said absently, pulling a lever down. The TARDIS slowly came to a rest, the whirring stopping. "Odd."

"You said that already," Rose prodded. "What is it, Doctor?"

"Catalla Four is mostly just a human colony," he said after a moment. "Or at least, it was. According to this, half its population is now Falikan."

"And who're they?" Rose asked, trying to be patient.

"Humanoid, kind of purple," the Doctor said briefly.

"And they're not supposed to be there?" Rose tried to clarify.

"Oh, they can be there. Just they shouldn't be, not in such a great number. Like I said, it's a predominantly human colony for another thousand years after this. It's not even a major trading post." He frowned. "That time jumper's started making trouble."

Visions of Reapers came to mind, and Rose bit her lip. "So, we sort it out," she said, falsely confident.

The Doctor rested his chin on her shoulder. "Yes," he said, still sounding a million years away. "You'd better get changed, then. The apes, too."

Rose sighed and ducked out of his arms. "Don't call them that," she reprimanded lightly. "Be back in half an hour. Don't do anything stupid."

"Hey," he said in objection. "It's me."

Rose rolled her eyes. "My point exactly."

* * *

"So…where exactly are we?" Izzy asked, trying to keep her outfit intact.

Rose re-pinned the sari-like dress for her cousin. "Two solar systems across from Earth, apparently," she answered.

"And five thousand years after our time," Tim clarified, adjusting the tunic-like top he had to wear. "I don't see why we have to dress up, and he doesn't," he muttered.

"He blends in," Rose said with a faint smile. "Dunno how, exactly." She looked over at her lover, who was tinkering some more with the TARDIS. "You'll be hot," she warned him. "Have you even looked outside yet?"

"I'm colder than you lot," came the absent reply.

"It's hotter than Egypt," she said sceptically. "You can't wear your jacket." He glanced at her, a smile dancing around his eyes. "Well, if you faint from heat stroke, don't blame me."

"And you've been married how long?" Izzy teased. "C'mon, let's go. I want to see it!"

"Hold on," Rose said, moving to the console and opening a drawer. "Spending money," she explained on Tim's odd look. "There's always something interesting to pick up."

"Even if it turns out to be a type of hammer," the Doctor put in.

"That was only once," she said implacably. "And besides, it's interesting to look at."

"Let's go," Tim said quickly, before Rose and the Doctor could get into another squabble. "I want to go out too." He moved towards the door, then paused. "It's, uh, safe, right?"

"Almost definitely," the Doctor said cheerfully, leaving the console and almost bouncing over to the door. He pulled it open and stepped outside. "Lock up, Rose."

Rose pulled a face, making Izzy grin, but she locked the TARDIS carefully nonetheless, and made sure the key was secure on a chain around her neck before slipping her arm through the Doctor's.

"Where to, then?" she asked. "D'you want to find the thing first?"

"Yes," he answered. "But it shouldn't take long – you lot can sightsee later."

Izzy and Tim were looking around themselves in awe.

"There's two suns," Tim pointed out faintly. "That's why it's so hot…two suns…"

"The buildings," Izzy half-squeaked. "It's so – wow!"

Rose grinned. "Yup. Alien planet." She left the Doctor and joined her cousins. "Looks like Greece in the early fifth century BC," she said. The Doctor's knowing grin told her that he knew she was showing off. It didn't make her any less right. "Built to withstand the heat," she continued. "So where's this time jumper, then?"

The Doctor hesitated, glancing between Rose and her cousins. "I can probably find it myself," he said then. "It's mostly harmless. You go have fun."

Rose adjusted the material over her shoulder and looked keenly at him. "You sure?" she asked. "We can – "

"Go," he overrode her. "Have fun. Get something pointless and pretty to stick on the shelf." He cupped her cheek with his hand. "Be careful."

"I always am," she smiled up at him. "You too, yeah? Don't start a fight."

"That's my line," he retorted, and kissed her. "Keep them out of trouble."

"Always do," Rose nodded cheerfully. "You come find me if you need help?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Rose, I've been doing this sort of thing for a long time."

"I know," she said defensively. "Just…I worry."

"I know."

"Oi, c'mon," Izzy said, laughing at them. "I didn't come all this way just to watch you two making eyes at each other."

Rose stuck her tongue out at Izzy. "You be quiet," she said. "Give me a sec, won't you?" She stretched up and kissed the Doctor again. "We'll be in the market, probably," she said. "S'where the best things are, usually."

"Right," he nodded. "Just steer clear of any trouble." He glanced briefly at Izzy and Tim, then disappeared down a nearby street. Rose turned back to her cousins.

"Well, c'mon then," she grinned. "Shopping."

Tim rolled his eyes. "How is it," he complained as Rose and Izzy linked their arms with his, "that we can come to another planet – and another time – and still you want to go shopping?"

Izzy grinned, looking around. "This is incredible," she enthused. "It's like – "

"Nothing on Earth," Rose grinned.

"Are those aliens?" Tim asked in a low voice as they approached a large square, bustling with activity. Humans and others wandered around – mothers with children, women with baskets, men with girlfriends. He was staring at a female who looked human, but had purple skin and a baby in a pouch in its stomach, kangaroo-like.

"Don't stare," Rose reprimanded softly. "It's rude. For all we know, staring's some sort of taboo here. And yeah, she's alien." She glanced around, careful not to watch any one individual for too long. "Possibly a human hybrid," she added, not being able to resist showing off again. "They look really human, see – and there, there's a couple mixing." She pointed out the purple-skinned man who was kissing a human who looked to be of Asian descent.

"This is incredible," Izzy said again. "I mean – wow."

"Yup," Rose nodded. "Ooh, look, clothes!"

"I don't want to shop," Tim complained as he was dragged towards the stall. "Isn't there something else to do? Like a museum, or something, so we can learn about it."

"Better not," Rose said. "Besides, this is fun." They stopped at the stall, and despite himself Tim was drawn into a discussion with Izzy about the materials of the clothes – a little like cotton, a little like silk, but not quite either. Rose leaned against the stall and looked around the market.

There was something…off about it. She couldn't quite put her finger on it – certainly not the way the Doctor could – but she'd been travelling with him for a while now, and she was starting to be able to tell if things weren't right. Even if she hadn't been told that Falikans weren't supposed to be here, she probably would have picked up on it anyway.

Despite the couple she'd pointed out to her cousins before, the humans and Falikans weren't mixing much at all. They didn't make eye contact, didn't smile the way mothers did over irritating children. Transactions between shopkeepers and buyers of different species were brief and terse, with no smile or general conversation.

The only time Rose had seen a marketplace – any market, in any time or place – this busy but almost segregated was in America in the late eighteen hundreds. They'd landed there by mistake – the Doctor didn't like being around slaves, and after seeing Atlanta, she'd agreed with his stance wholeheartedly.

This place was segregated like that. She didn't like it, not one bit.

She hoped the Doctor found the time jumper soon, so he could sort out whatever mess the creature had made of this planet, and they could take Izzy and Tim home and then just go on as normal.

Well, as normally as it ever got.

"What do you think of this, Rose?" Izzy asked. Rose didn't appear to hear her, and she touched her cousin's shoulder gently. "Rose? You in there?"

"Yeah," Rose said quickly, blinking and looking at the younger girl. "Yeah, sorry." She looked at the dress. "It's nice. I like it. It'd fit in back home, too." She looked at the shopkeeper. "How much is it?"

"Twenty creds," the woman said, her eyes darting about the market nervously. "Will you take it?"

Rose frowned. "Twenty creds? Are you sure? It's worth more than that, isn't it?"

"No, no," the woman said. "You can have it for twenty. It's…the end of a line."

Rose frowned and followed the woman's gaze. Her eyes widened.

"Tim, Izzy, get down," she ordered. "Under the table!"

A moment later, the earth trembled and fire and smoke engulfed the marketplace as a bomb exploded.

* * *

Rose leaned against the wall of the cell and scowled.

"This," she said decidedly, "happens far too often."

Izzy lay on the metal ledge that served as a bunk. Tim sat on the floor by her head. They both watched Rose, taking their cues from her.

"The number of times I've landed in a cell," Rose continued. "It's what made us decide to go back to Earth this time – I got stuck in a cell. He's completely insane. And the TARDIS – always landing us in the wrong place."

"I thought you liked the TARDIS," Tim ventured. Rose glared at him, and he glanced away. "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," Rose said after a moment. "I'm just…tired." She slid down the wall until she was sitting, cross-legged, on the floor.

Izzy sat up and watched her cousin intently. "Rose, are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Rose said. "What about you two?"

"It's…different," Tim acknowledged. "It's not the kind of thing I'd want to be doing every day."

"But it's an adventure," Izzy agreed. "Thanks for bringing us along."

Rose smiled. "Sure. I just wish it hadn't ended up like this." She sighed. "I think it was that time jumper," she admitted. "The Doctor wouldn't have let us off the TARDIS if he'd known this was going on."

'This' was evidently some kind rebellion. The bomb that had gone off in the market had been an attack by one side, and Rose, Izzy and Tim had been caught in the crossfire. The rebel group had captured them when Rose had tried to help a Falikan woman and her child, who had both been injured in the blast.

Rose felt sick. Humans and Falikans fighting. This wasn't right – she knew it wasn't, from what the Doctor had said. And it went against everything she hoped in for the human race. She had to remind herself that this was only five thousand years in her future. Humans had been fighting each other for longer than that by the time she had started time travelling.

She sighed leaned her head against the wall. "This is wrong," she said aloud. "This whole thing…it's supposed to be mostly humans here, the Doctor told me – not Falikans as well. And this rebellion thing…" She shook her head. "Even I can feel it, and I'm human."

"So…the alien we saw yesterday has…what, messed up time?" Tim said, trying to understand.

Rose nodded. "Time's very delicate," she said. "If you're not careful, timelines can be altered. It's not safe, when that happened." She gave a weak smile. "The Doctor's people – the Time Lords – they used to keep an eye on it all, make sure it was going smoothly, that no one was messing around with time. But…" She trailed off and shook her head. "It's different now."

There was silence in the cell for a while, then Tim rubbed his knees and stood up.

"Right," he said. "Are we going to try to get out of here, or what?"

Izzy blinked. "Is there any point?" she wanted to know. "I mean, the Doctor'll come looking for us. Won't he?"

"Yes," Rose nodded. "Soon as he can. And we're pretty safe here, really. We might as well stay put for a while." She glanced around. "No way to get out, anyhow. Wish I had a sonic screwdriver, we could try the door then, but we'd get caught again quickly enough."

Izzy looked at Rose oddly. "I'm sure you never used to be this pessimistic," she commented. "You've changed, Rose."

"People do," Rose said quietly. "Does it matter?"

"I don't know."

The door scraped open at that point, stopping Rose from answering. Two humans stepped through, one carrying something that was obviously a weapon.

"Back against the wall," the gun-carrying man ordered. "Hands above your heads." The three cousins obeyed. The men jerked his head. "Well, go on," he said to the woman. "They weren't injured, but…"

"But this is my job," the slender woman said implacably. She held a scanner in her hands, and stepped towards Tim. He shifted away. "It's just a medi-scan," she said, trying to reassure him. "To see if you were injured in the blast."

"You always treat prisoners this nicely?" Izzy asked. "Or are we just special?"

"You're outsiders," the woman guessed. "You're not involved. And yes, we always make sure prisoners aren't injured." She moved the scanner over Tim. "You're fine," she reported, and moved on to Izzy. "Some small grazes," she said, "nothing serious. I'll send some antiseptic lotion, so they won't get infected."

"Thanks," Izzy said dryly.

The woman moved on to Rose, who endured the scan with bad grace. The woman shook the scanner and checked the screen again.

"I'm sorry," she said after a moment. "If you'd been further along, so it was noticeable, we'd never have let the bomb go off with you there."

"What d'you mean?" Rose asked.

"You're pregnant," the woman said awkwardly. "Didn't you know?" Rose gaped. "From what I can tell, you're nearly two months along," the woman continued. "The baby wasn't harmed in the explosion, though."

The man at the door sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "If we'd seen you were pregnant…we don't want to harm people, we're just trying to get people to listen."

"Then why did you let a bomb go off?" Tim demanded, pushing past the woman to glare at the man. "We could have been killed."

"Pregnant?" Rose asked, voice barely a whisper. "Me? Pregnant? With a baby?"

"Yes," the woman said gently. "Didn't you know?"

"No," Rose said faintly. "I…the Doctor…" She slid to the floor. "Oh," she whispered. "That's interesting."

* * *

Reviews will make me so much more confident in my exams, which will help me write more... 


	5. Day Four

Title: Domestic Space

Rating: T

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground'. You must have read that in order to understand this.

Notes 2: The Doctor doesn't do domestic, not even now he's married to Rose. But he's about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don't do families…

Notes 3: I'm sorry about the delay. I hit major block - I knew what had to be written, but it wouldn't write, and then I was having RL problems, including exams, and sighs it's all over now. I won't make promises about when the next part will be out, but the block seems to have disappeared, so it won't be so long. I promise.

* * *

Day Four

* * *

Rose folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. "I don't see what you think you can get out of me," she commented. "I told you already – I'm not from around here. I don't know anything about your war."

"That's as may be," the man seated at the desk said. She'd heard him addressed as Paul. "But you're here, and I want to know why."

"Want doesn't always get." Jackie's words at times came in handy, although Rose rather suspected that she would have regretted repeating that particular phrase, were she not pregnant.

"What's going on here, anyway? Who're you fighting?"

Paul looked at her in amazement. "Where've you been?" he marvelled. "It's headline news – finally – all over the system. All the way back to Earth, even!"

Rose barely hesitated. "Out of the system. Not Earth. Somewhere else. You wouldn't have heard of it. You gonna tell me what's going on, or am I just going to go back to the cell?"

Paul sighed. "The Falikans have been taking over for decades," he said bluntly. "Taking over the best of our jobs, our farms, our government positions – everything. We don't want that. We're trying to get it back – or at least equalise it."

Rose frowned. "But why do it like this?"

"Because there's no other way," Paul said, with the weariness of someone who'd gone over an argument many times before. "We've tried peaceful ways – tried going to Earth for help, tried motions in the senate. We've tried everything. We've been rebuffed again and again. This was the last option. It was a hard decision to make, but it was the only one available to us."

"There's always another option," Rose bit off. "War is never a good answer. It's never acceptable."

He looked at her curiously. "You speak as though you've been in a war."

Rose looked away. "I…no. Not really. But my husband…he was in a war." She closed her eyes.

"The effects have been devastating. I don't want anyone to have to go through that." She opened her eyes again and looked straight at him. "There must be another way," she said strongly. "Let me help."

Paul leaned back in his chair and observed her. She flushed slightly under his gaze, aware of what she must look like after a night in a cell; her hair hung half out of its ties and her sari-like dress was crumbled and torn and stained with blood from yesterday. On top of that, she reminded herself, she was pregnant.

She had to keep repeating it in her mind, she had found, or she would never believe it. They'd never really discussed the possibility of children – it had simply never occurred to Rose that she might become pregnant without them planning it, although she supposed it should have done. It wasn't like they had ever used protection, but then she'd presumed the Doctor would say if they needed to.

She wondered idly what the Doctor would say when he found out.

"How could you help?" Paul asked, cutting into her thoughts. "You're pregnant. You can't fight, can't be militarily active. And you're an outsider, why do you care anyway?"

"Because this is wrong," she said quietly. "You know it's wrong, otherwise you wouldn't have sent that medic to me and my cousins. You wouldn't have brought me here, you'd have just left me in the cell."

Paul inclined his head in acknowledgement. "True," he admitted. "Did you have anything specific in mind – Rose, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Rose nodded. "I'll need to do some reading up on your planet's history, politics, stuff like that. You got computer access I can use, or anything?"

Paul grimaced. "Rose – don't take this the wrong way, but I can't just give you free run of our system. If you're working for the enemy - "

"Oh, bollocks," Rose said strongly. "Give me a print out then, or whatever. I can help, Paul, I can." She watched him earnestly, trying to make him see that she really did want to help him.

"I believe you," Paul said after a moment or two. "No idea why, but I believe you." He pressed a button on the desk. "Miriam – the medic you saw last night asked that you go to the infirmary," he continued, "to check you over."

"Alright," Rose agreed. "And then can I get some information to read?"

"Yes," Paul nodded. "I'll have you and your cousins moved – it won't be much better, I'm afraid, and you'll still be confined to the room, but it'll be warmer, at least, and comfier."

"Thanks," Rose gave a slight smile. "I appreciate it."

A guard entered the room and stood at attention.

"Take Rose to the infirmary," Paul instructed him. "She's a guest. I'll send someone to collect her later, tell Miriam."

"Sir," the guard nodded. Rose stood up, and he indicated that she should precede him. The infirmary wasn't far away, and she was grateful for that. She was exhausted – she hadn't slept much in the cell, and she'd been sick again earlier in the morning.

"Hello, Rose," Miriam greeted with a faint smile. "Have a seat on the bed, there." She pointed across the room to an empty bed. There were three other people in the room, and Rose took them all in before sitting down. A young man had lost an arm. A woman had what looked like bad 'flu. An older man was snoring.

"Right," Miriam said, wheeling a trolley towards Rose. "Just some basic tests – we can't do anything advanced, we don't have the supplies, but we need to make sure your baby's alright."

"I'm sure it's fine," Rose said, swinging her legs slightly. "If it's anything like it's dad."

"Would you like to know the sex of the foetus?" Miriam asked, ignoring Rose's statement.

"You can do that?" Rose questioned. "It's only, what, two months…"

"Of course," Miriam nodded. "And there's some other tests I'll have to do if it's not a human father."

Rose stilled. "He's not," she admitted. "Is that – I mean, will that make a difference? To the pregnancy, or anything?"

"It shouldn't do," Miriam hurried to reassure her. "Human DNA is so flexible that it can combine with practically any other humanoid DNA."

"Good," Rose nodded, relaxing slightly. "Alright, then. What sort of tests?"

Miriam smiled again. "Do you always ask this many questions?"

Rose shrugged. "Curious nature," she said.

"It's refreshing," Miriam told her. "Most people around here don't ask enough questions." She picked up a flat, rectangular piece of equipment from the trolley. "This is just a basic scanner," she explained. "To make sure you've got enough of all the vitamins and things you need. Not that there's much I can do about it – our supplies aren't great." She moved the scanner over Rose from her head to her feet. "That looks fine," she nodded. "Now the test to see what species your baby is, and its DNA, so I can tell what other tests to do."

Rose flinched slightly. "Really, that's not…you don't need to – "

"Nonsense," Miriam overrode her. "It's important for the baby." She picked up another scanner. "Could you bare your stomach, please?"

Rose moved the sari material to one side, trying to keep her breasts covered but not quite managing it. Miriam scanned her stomach and abdomen carefully, and frowned.

"That's odd," she commented. "There's no DNA match in the databank."

Rose shrugged. "Like I told Paul, I've been out a bit further than most humans have been. Might not be in your databank – or it might be incomplete."

Miriam pursed her lips momentarily. "Not possible," she declared. "The databank is linked with the central systems – it's not incomplete." She shook the scanner. "Oh, wait, here it comes…"

Rose frowned. That, she was almost positive, wasn't possible. Unless the scanner was getting it wrong…

"Gallifreyan," Miriam pronounced with a strange look. "That's odd. Someone must have been messing about with the scanner. Gallifrey is just a myth." Rose winced on the Doctor's behalf; Miriam reached for another scanner. "It's the same result…I don't understand."

"You don't need to," Rose said quietly. "Please…forget about this. Please."

Something in her tone caught Miriam's attention, and the two women silently looked at each other for a long moment. Miriam nodded slowly.

"Alright," she agreed. "I won't mention this. To anyone. But I wish you'd tell me what's going on."

Rose shook her head.

* * *

The Doctor was as close to panicking as he ever was. It had been twelve hours since Rose had disappeared, along with Izzy and Tim, and eleven hours since he had discovered the marketplace strewn with debris from a bomb.

It was precisely ten hours, fifty-five minutes and three seconds since he had realised Rose was nowhere to be found. He'd started worrying two seconds later, but it hadn't developed into full-fledged panic until the sun had risen and there was still no sign of Rose anywhere.

He'd checked the hospitals – all three of them. None of them had records of a Rose Tyler, or an Isobel Falconer or a Timothy Radcliffe. He was almost ashamed to admit that he was less worried about Rose's two cousins. He knew Rose could take care of herself in precarious situations, but then again she was, as he had told her on many occasions, the most jeopardy-friendly of all his many companions. And besides that, she was his wife and partner.

He scowled at the humans who were cleaning up the mess in the market square. Stupid humans. Always getting into conflicts with some species or other. Not that humans were always in the wrong, but really, you'd have thought they could make an effort.

He sighed and began his circuit of the market again. This wasn't their fault though, he knew. The time jumper had messed up the time line. It was yet another example of how his people – the Time Lords – would have stepped in and cleaned things up.

But there was only him, and right now he was more concerned with getting Rose and her cousins out of here and into the TARDIS where they would be safer. He wouldn't say so to Rose, of course. She liked to think she was highly capable. But this was different. This wasn't how it should be, and it worried him.

He hadn't even been able to find the time jumper, he thought moodily as he reached out to stop a barefoot Falikan child running over a sharp bit of metal. The creature had almost vanished into thin air, which was impossible.

Unless it had found a transmat, he reminded himself. Or a ship. Or a time eddy. But there would be ripples, in that case. He'd be able to see the wake left behind – and no ships had left Catalla Four in two days. Another wasn't scheduled to leave for another day and a half, and that might be delayed now. He didn't know what the effects of the bomb would be on the security of the city, let alone the planet. He just didn't know enough about what was going on.

He slammed his fist into a nearby wall disgustedly. What sort of a Time Lord was he, he demanded of himself, if he couldn't find one pathetic time jumper? They weren't a problem; they were a just pest species.

He berated himself for that thought instantly. A pest they might seem, but no species was a pest.

He wandered along a street almost aimlessly, trying to think where Rose could be. He couldn't use the TARDIS to find her, because Rose hadn't taken her phone or any other electronics with her.

Next time, he'd make sure she did. Even just a watch would stand out here as different technology. She'd take a watch, no matter how anachronistic it might be.

The solution to his problems hit him as he was approaching the TARDIS, and made him feel incredibly stupid. The attack on the marketplace, he had been told, was carried out by a rebel human group that called themselves the Belli Veriti – a more pretentious name he didn't think he'd ever heard. To find Rose, he had to find the rebels.

It was simple. He hoped.

* * *

Rose sat in the new room they had been given, staring thoughtfully at the hand-held data storage device she had been given. It contained the historical and political information she had asked for – and was of absolutely no help whatsoever.

She sighed. "This is hopeless," she muttered.

Izzy joined her on the couch. "D'you want a hand?" she asked. "I did Politics AS level last year…"

Rose hesitated. "I guess," she said cautiously. "It's different to Earth politics, but…" Izzy took the device from her and sat back to read. Rose shrugged and stood up, stretching. Her muscles ached from sitting in one position for so long. She wished the Doctor were here.

"So…why exactly are we helping these people?" Tim wanted to know. He sat at a table on the other side of the room. "I mean…they did set off a bomb."

"It's not their fault," Rose said. "They can't help it. It's the time jumper that's made this happen."

"But you're pregnant," Izzy pointed out absently. "And the Doctor'll be here soon. Will he help?"

Rose shifted uneasily. "Yeah," she said, not exactly lying. "I'm sure he will."

Tim gave her a look. "Rose, you're hiding something."

"I'm always hiding something," Rose responded glibly. "What do you want to know, Tim?"

"The Doctor won't help these people, will he?"

Rose sat back down. "No," she admitted after a moment. "Not exactly. He'll fix the problems in the timeline, and then we'll go back to Earth and drop you two off, and then we'll go off somewhere else."

"But you want to help them," Izzy guessed, glancing up from the data storage device. "Rose, you've been weird ever since you arrived. What's up?"

"I don't know," Rose said softly. "Hormones, I guess." It was almost a question, but Izzy and Tim couldn't answer it for her. Rose smiled after a moment. "So, Izzy, see anything in there that I'm missing?"

"Is there any point?" Izzy asked hesitantly. "I mean, if the Doctor won't - "

"He's not here," Rose said quickly. "Let's work with what we have, yeah?" She reached to the chain around her neck and rubbed her thumb over the TARDIS key. It wasn't even remotely warm, which meant that the Doctor was nowhere near. He'd figure out where they were, she knew. It was only a matter of time, and he was a master of that.

She sighed and was about to release the key when it suddenly burned red hot against her fingers. She gave a cry and dropped the key, scrambling to get the chain and key away from her skin.

"Rose, what is it?" Tim wanted to know, looking up with concern. "Are you alright?"

"TARDIS key," Rose said briefly. The chain now off her neck, she used the edge of her skirt to hold the key carefully. "The Doctor's near." She went to the door and knocked loudly on it. A moment later it swung open and a guard peered in, hand hovering over his gun. "Could I see Paul, please?" she asked.

"Paul's got better things to do," the guard said. Rose bit her lip, trying to look vulnerable and needy, and it evidently worked because the guard sighed. "Alright, I'll make a call," he said. "Can't promise anything, though."

"Thanks," Rose said, and let him close the door. She turned to Izzy. "I guess we won't be needing that information, then," she said with a slight shrug. "The Doctor'll sort it all out now."

Izzy chewed her lip thoughtfully for a moment, then shook her head. "No. I'm going to keep looking through it. You never know, it might come in useful." She bent her head to the data storage device again. Rose smiled faintly. She had missed her cousin's determination, but she was fairly sure that it wouldn't matter much now. The Doctor would come in, whisk them away, fix the problems in time, and then probably wrap her in cotton wool for the next seven months.

She stilled momentarily. The baby.

"Oh, he's going to have kittens," she said faintly.

"Hmm?" Izzy vocalised, not looking up.

"The baby."

"Oh," Tim said slowly. A grin spread across his face. "Oh, I hope I'm there when you tell him…"

"Shut it," Rose muttered half-heartedly. "It won't be pretty." They key was growing ever hotter, wrapped in the material and clutched in her hand, and she knew without looking that it was glowing. The Doctor was getting closer.

A moment later the door swung open and an energetic Time Lord burst into the room. His gaze roved the room the room, taking in everyone, and then he swept Rose into his arms.

"You're alright," he said lowly. "I was worried."

"I'm fine," Rose said, distractedly returning his embrace. She closed her eyes briefly, rubbing her cheek against the lapel of his jacket, and then pulled away. "I suppose we're going, then?"

"Quick as we can," the Doctor nodded. "Are you alright? Not hurt?" She shook her head. "And you two?" he asked her cousins.

"Fine," Izzy answered absently. "This is really interesting, Rose. It's so complex…"

Rose shifted uncomfortably under the Doctor's hard gaze.

"We didn't know when you'd find us," she excused. "And -"

"Rose, this all happened because of the time jumper," he reminded her. "It'll change back once we repair time. Anything we do now could have serious consequences."

"I know," Rose snapped. "I'm not stupid. I just…" She trailed off and shrugged. "I don't know."

He frowned at her, then turned to the doorway. Paul was standing there, watching them.

"What did you do?" he demanded. "You've done something to her."

"They didn't," Rose said tiredly. "Let's just…let's just please go back to the TARDIS." She swayed slightly and put a hand to her forehead.

"Do you need to see Miriam?" Paul spoke up. "I can get her here…"

"Miriam?" the Doctor questioned.

"Medic," Tim spoke up. "Rose?"

"I don't know," Rose said after a moment. "I'm fine. I just…feel a bit funny, that's all."

"From what I've heard, the first trimester of pregnancy can be strange," Paul nodded. "I'll get Miriam." He left, closing the door behind him. Rose met the Doctor's gaze with trepidation.

"Pregnancy?" the Doctor repeated softly. Rose swallowed hard. "Pregnant?"

"Let's go," Izzy said, suddenly interested in the conversation. "We should get back to the

TARDIS, and back to London."

"Rose?" The Doctor didn't stop looking at her, a strange expression on his face. "Pregnant?"

"I didn't know," Rose said, almost apologetically. "I just found out yesterday, their medic told me…" Her hand crept almost unconsciously to her stomach, hovering over her womb. "I didn't know before."

"I know you didn't," he murmured. "It's impossible." Rose frowned, and he gave a brilliant smile suddenly. "That's fantastic. Let's go, then, shall we?"

"No," Rose said. "I want to stay and help these people."

"Rose - "

"Theta."

The use of his name stopped him dead. Usually she only called him by that name - the only one she could pronounce, she had laughingly told him when he'd told her all his different names - in bed, or other intimate moments. It made him look at her afresh, trying to understand her. This was important to her, he realised, and he didn't know why.

"Rose, what's going on?" he asked softly. Rose glanced at Tim and Izzy, not quite comfortable talking about it in front of her cousins. "Rose."

"I just…for once I want to make a difference," Rose admitted quietly.

The Doctor frowned. "You make a difference to a lot of things," he argued.

"No, I don't," she contradicted. "We swan into places and cause chaos and we swan out again. You never stay for the long run. Ever." His face had gone still and stony, but she forged on. "We change things, we help people who can't help themselves, but we never stay and work at something. And this…I can help these people. You've taught me how to help people. And I want to help them." She was frustrated, and didn't feel the tears that were running down her cheeks. "I know…I know that's not what you do. And I know it's not real, it's the time jumper, that it'll go back to the way it was. But I…"

She trailed off and turned away. Izzy approached her and wrapped her in a hug, darting accusing glances at the Doctor. The Time Lord sighed and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets.

"Rose, I'm sorry," he said softly. She hiccoughed but said nothing. "I'm just…look, I don't…I was really worried," he confessed. "I just…want to get back to the TARDIS and sort this mess out, and make sure you're safe."

"It's not safe," Rose muttered. "Never was. You think I want safe?"

"No, I don't." He stepped towards her; Izzy released her and moved out of the way. "Rose…I love you."

She blinked up at him. She looked a mess, and she looked beautiful, and he wanted to kiss her but wouldn't in front of her cousins. It was hard enough for him to express his emotions like this.

"I know you do," she said. "I love you, too." She reached out and took his hand; the familiarity of the gesture soothed them both. "Sorry. Guess I'm a bit hormonal."

A strange expression crossed his face for a moment, then he nodded. "Yeah. That's another reason for getting back to the TARDIS. Best place to make sure you and the baby are alright."

"Miriam said we are," Rose said quietly.

"But she's never dealt with a Gallifreyan baby," the Doctor pointed out, his voice gentle. "Never will again, either."

A slow smile curled Rose's lips, and she pressed her hand to her abdomen. "Another Time Lord."

"Or Time Lady," he nodded, smiling again. "Our baby, Rose." He blinked. "Our baby." He crushed her to him suddenly, his mouth hard and hot on hers, and she gasped into his mouth and clung to him.

"Our baby," she whispered when he released her. "Theta…"

Tim cleared his throat, and the pair of time travellers released each other quickly.

"Thanks," the elder cousin said dryly. "Now can we get out of this room?"

"No," Rose said quickly. "I want to help - at least until you find the time jumper," she added on quickly, looking at the Doctor. "It can't hurt, can it?"

He scowled. "Rose - "

"If it'll all go back to normal afterwards, it can't hurt," Izzy nodded. "And if it'll make Rose feel better…it's not like we'll be missed at home, is it? You can take us back just after we left." The Doctor suddenly found the floor very interesting. "Right?"

"Right," Rose said quickly. "Tim, you up for it?"

"Sure," Tim nodded quickly. "Great. Doctor?"

The Doctor looked from one human to another, and then rolled his eyes. "Outnumbered by a bunch of apes," he grumbled. "Fine. But on my terms."

"Done," Rose said instantly. She reached up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Doctor."

Neither Tim nor Izzy missed the fond smile he sent her way as she took the data storage device from Izzy and started reading again.

* * *

Please review.


	6. Day Five

Title: Domestic Space

Rating: T

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground'. You must have read that in order to understand this.

Notes 2: The Doctor doesn't do domestic, not even now he's married to Rose. But he's about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don't do families…

Notes 3: I have no excuse, except that life went down the drain in a major way. I didn't get the grades I needed for uni, my depression came back almost worse than ever before, and life has been, basically, a load of rubbish. I stayed with Steviesun recently, and she started the muses talking again. It's all her fault grins blame her.

* * *

Day Five

* * *

Rose shifted slightly on the uncomfortable bed and sighed softly. The Doctor lay behind her, immersed in reading something. He was also ignoring her, and Rose felt rather as though she didn't deserve it. 

Especially since, she thought crossly five minutes later, after flushing the toilet and rinsing her mouth out, she was going to be giving birth in seven months. He damn well ought to be pampering her.

A hand touched her shoulder briefly before rubbing her back. She hummed and leaned back against him. His arms went around her, hands moving to rest on her stomach. She closed her eyes and put her hands over his.

"There's a baby growing in there," the Doctor murmured.

"Yes," she acknowledged, carefully keeping her tone as neutral as she could. "Our baby."

"I really didn't think it was possible," he admitted. "I thought…I mean, humans and Gallifreyans are compatible, I knew that, but…"

"You never thought it would happen to you," Rose nodded. "Me neither." She turned her head so her cheek rubbed against his chest. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not!" The answer came so quickly, and he was so adamant, that Rose was reassured. She relaxed against him and smiled. "You didn't think I wouldn't want this child, did you?"

"I don't know," Rose said slowly. "You always say you don't do domestic…"

"Oh, Rose…" He trailed off, and his arms held her a little tighter. "You're – it's – " He tried to put into words what he was feeling. In the end he turned her around and kissed her. Her arms went around his neck easily. "I love you," he muttered when they separated. "And a baby – our baby. It's incredible."

"People call babies miracles," Rose said with a slight laugh. "And this one…there's another Time Lord –"

"Or Lady," the Doctor put in quickly.

"So you're not alone anymore," Rose finished, ignoring his interruption.

"Rose…I wasn't alone." He cupped her cheek with his hand and seemed to look into her. "I have you."

She was just about to reach up to kiss him when the bedroom door was flung open and Izzy bounced in.

"Morning!" she said. "Sleep well? How's the baby? You'll never guess what I've found!"

Rose blinked and pulled her robe tighter around her. "Izzy?" she questioned cautiously.

"She ate something," reported Tim, who had followed Izzy in. "Sorry. I'm trying to keep control of her. She's worse than the twins on sugar."

"I knew I shouldn't have brought you two," the Doctor grumbled. He moved around the bed and pulled his jumper on. "Would you get out?"

"Doctor," Rose scolded. A moment later she returned to the toilet and threw up.

"Ew," Izzy said cheerfully. "I'm gonna go find Paul, I've worked out a loophole he can exploit!" She left the bedroom. Tim, with an exasperated look, followed her. The Doctor watched as Rose washed out her mouth.

"We really need to get you to the TARDIS," he muttered.

"We need to find that time jumper," Rose countered. "That's a bit more important, isn't it?"

"Nothing's more important than you," the Doctor said honestly. He picked up the length of material – her dress – that she'd discarded the night before. "How do you put this thing on, then?"

"With difficulty," Rose said. She disrobed, took the material from him, and started wrapping it around herself. "So, what're we doing today?"

"I'm going looking for the time jumper," the Doctor said absently, watching as Rose was shrouded in cotton. "You're going to sit very still and not do anything dangerous."

"Like hell," came Rose's cheerful reply. "I'm going to help Izzy and Tim in trying to find something to help these people."

"Rose," the Doctor began sternly. "I know you want to help, but – "

"But nothing," Rose interrupted him. "Doctor, why am I here if you won't let me help?" She pinned the dress at her shoulder and ran a hand through her tangled hair. "Theta. You promised. You said I could help." She crossed the room and stood in front of him. His hands rested easily on her waist, a thumb rubbing gently. "What's wrong?" she asked after a moment.

He bowed his head, resting his forehead on her shoulder. He held her loosely, but his touch seemed to burn.

"I don't want to lose you," he said after a long moment of silence. "I couldn't bear to lose you, Rose. Not again. And the baby – I never thought, never dreamed I could have a child. I mean, I knew I would, but…"

"Knew? How?" Rose demanded, startled.

"I have a granddaughter," he said plainly. "Or I did. Before the war. Only I never knew her mother, or grandmother. It happened in my future. She was from a different time. So before the war, I knew I was going to have children. But I thought, with my people gone…"

"That it would all change," Rose completed softly. "Oh, Doctor." She raised a hand, cupping the back of his head and holding him to her. "I'm pregnant with your child," she whispered. "And we are all going to survive, and we are going to be happy. All three of us."

"Right." The Doctor pulled away from her and sprang into action. He pulled his jacket on, checked his pockets, and sat on the side of the bed to lace his boots up. "I'll go have a snoop around the town centre and the market place, see if I can track anything down. You go have some breakfast – not whatever your cousin ate, that'd upset the baby – and we'll meet back here for lunch, 'cos you humans need regular feeding."

Rose wisely didn't mention that even the thought of food right now made her want to throw up again. She nodded, slipped her feet into her sandals, and made to leave the room. The Doctor stopped her, fishing something out of his pocket at the same time.

"Take this," he instructed her. "I'm not losing you again."

"I've got the key," Rose objected, turning the item around in her hands. "What is it?"

"It's not from around here," the Doctor said simply. "Put it on your wrist, try not to lose it, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah," Rose muttered, securing the strap to her wrist. "Go on, then. I'd better find Izzy."

* * *

Hours later, Rose was gently shaken awake by Tim. She blinked blearily at him and slowly sat up. A data storage device slipped from her lap. 

"Tim?" she questioned, looking around blankly.

"You fell asleep," he told her. "You alright?" He helped her to stand.

"Yeah," Rose nodded. "Just a bit tired, I guess." She touched the key at her neck automatically. "Is the Doctor back?" she wanted to know.

"Yeah, he came back a few minutes ago," Tim told her. "That's why I woke you up. He found that time jumper…thingy."

"Really?" Rose grinned. "Fantastic."

"He seemed a little upset," Tim warned. He led her out of the room and along a long, dark corridor. "The jumper apparently did something bad."

"They always do something bad," Rose said with a slight smile. "And from what the Doctor's said, time jumpers can be dangerous to normal time and space."

"Uh huh. Left here," Tim directed. Rose stepped through the doorway and collided with the time jumper. Rose stumbled backwards against Tim.

"Oh no you don't," the Doctor said grimly. He was on the time jumper in a moment later, gripping its arms and pulling it off Rose. "You behave," he snapped at it.

Rose regained her footing, eyebrows raised. "Trouble?" she asked.

"I'll say," the Doctor said, not looking away from the creature. "Apart from starting this whole civil war racism rubbish, this little thing has managed to rip a rather large hole in time."

Rose wrapped her arms around herself in an unconscious gesture of protection. "So what's coming?" she asked quietly. "Reapers?"

The Doctor shook his head and deposited the time jumper into a chair. "No. Nothing so bad." He glanced her over, making sure she was alright, then looked at Paul, who was standing in a corner of the room. "You getting any of this?" he asked.

"Some," Paul nodded guardedly. "So if this thing goes, everything changes, right?"

"Sort of." The Doctor returned his attention to the alien creature, and Rose got her first good look at it.

The time jumper was short and squat. He reminded Rose of nothing so much as a dwarf. His face was squashed, pug-like, but other than these differences he could have passed for a human child. He was glaring around, particularly at the Doctor.

"Time Lords," he spat out. "I thought we'd seen the last of you lot." Rose glanced swiftly at the Doctor; he didn't seem surprised or shocked by the time jumper's words.

"Well, apparently not," he said coolly. "Did you think I was just going to let you get away with this? You knew I was tracking you. You got onto my ship. Why?"

"To jump," the alien said grumpily. "Why else would I do anything?"

"You idiot," Rose seethed. "Do you have any idea what you've been doing?"

"Of course," the jumper said, looking at her. "Do you?" Rose blinked. "I've been watching you two," he sneered. "Little ticking time bombs, the pair of you."

"Don't talk to her," the Doctor ordered. "You opened a time rip. Purposefully." The jumper glared up at him balefully. "Tell me where it leads."

"You're a Time Lord," the jumper sneered. "You figure it out."

"Tell him," Rose said, deceptively softly. "Or I'm going to break your arm."

The Doctor swung around to blink at her in surprise. Rose stood, mouth open, shocked at what she'd just said.

Tim put a hand on her arm. "Rose, maybe we should go see Miriam," he suggested softly.

"No, she stays here," the Doctor ruled. He was torn between holding Rose and not moving away from the time jumper. The latter won. He looked back at the small alien. "Tell me." In the corner, Paul pulled out a gun.

"I don't know," the jumper said after a long, drawn-out silence. "Thought I could distract you with it long enough to get away. There aren't many of us left, after the war. I'm just looking out for myself."

"And there are none of my people left," the Doctor said in a low, dangerous voice. "But I'm still a Time Lord."

Everyone was silent. Tim and Izzy exchanged confused glances. Paul shifted, frowning. Rose held her hands over her stomach. The Doctor took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

"I'm going to find out where it goes," he said after a long moment. "And I'm going to take you where you can't cause any more trouble." He fished a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and restrained the jumper's arms behind his back.

Izzy went to Rose's side. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"We're going back to the TARDIS," the younger cousin answered. "We're getting out of here." She tugged at the TARDIS key, hung around her neck. "Let's go, then."

"Wait," Paul said, stepping towards them. "You can't just – "

"Leave? Yes, we can." The Doctor flashed him a beaming grin. "Bye!"

"Doctor," Rose protested half-heartedly. But the Doctor was already out of the door, propelling the time jumper ahead of him. Rose sent an apologetic look at Paul, and followed her husband from the room.

* * *

The Doctor was sprawled on the armchair in the control room, staring at nothing with a shocked and destroyed look on his face. Rose leaned against the console, shaking her head. Izzy and Tim stood at one side, standing guard over the time jumper. 

"It can't be," the Doctor murmured. "It just…can't be."

"It's impossible," Rose agreed. She knew enough by now to know that. The Time War had wiped entire planets from the skies, but two had been wiped from time as well as space. Skaro – the Dalek homeworld – and Gallifrey, the home of the Time Lords. Those two places could not be reached by any space or time ship.

And yet somehow the time jumper had managed to open a time rift that led to Gallifrey.

"It's impossible," Rose repeated. "Isn't it?"

"It should be," the Doctor said hollowly. "Gallifrey is gone. All its possibilities were wiped out. There shouldn't have been anything left of it – I can't explain why I survived." His hands clenched into fists. "There's no way this should be possible," he said needlessly.

"I don't understand – what's Gallifrey?" Izzy spoke up.

"His planet," Rose answered after a moment, during which it became clear that the Doctor would not – or could not – answer. "It was destroyed in a Time War." She crossed her arms over her chest. "The Daleks are all gone now."

The Doctor spared her a brief smile. "Thanks to you," he said sincerely.

The time jumper suddenly paid attention. "She finished off the Daleks?" he demanded. "She – she's Bad Wolf?"

Rose spared him a glance. "Yeah, so?"

"So? So, she asks?" The time jumper shook his head. "Oh, I was such an idiot!"

"You were," the Doctor agreed curtly. "How did you do it? How did you open a rip in time and space leading to Gallifrey – to a place that doesn't exist?"

"I didn't," the jumper said after a long moment. "I just opened a rip – thought it was gonna lead to the Eye of Orion. I don't know how this happened."

"Might it have something to do with the baby?" Tim ventured. When everyone turned to look at him, he gave a nervous smile. "Sorry, that's a bit rubbish…"

"Not necessarily," the Doctor said slowly. "Rose is different…" He looked intently at her. "You might have done it unconsciously."

"What, brought Gallifrey back into existence?" Rose shook her head. "Doctor -,"

"No, nothing like that," the Doctor assured her. "But you might have re-opened its possibilities."

Rose frowned in confusion. "Doctor – "

"I can't explain right now," the Doctor cut across her. "Let's get this time jumper back where he belongs, then we'll sort the rift out." He glanced at Rose's cousins. "Hold on," he instructed, and sprang into action. He pulled levers, pressed buttons, and twisted dials in a dizzying combination. Rose simply gripped onto the console and watched him with a worried expression.

The time jumper let out a yelp when Tim and Izzy fell over, dragging him with them.

"Watch it!" he shrieked.

"Shut up," he was told by the three humans. Then Rose almost fell over, and the TARDIS came to a halt alarmingly quickly. Rose, queasy, made for the nearest bathroom at a run.

"What the hell?" the Doctor muttered, checking a gauge and then the monitor. "That shouldn't have happened."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," Izzy said, joining him at the console. "Doctor? Where are we?"

"I'm not sure yet," the Doctor said absently. "Go check on Rose, will you?"

"Sure," Izzy nodded. The Doctor didn't even notice; she followed Rose.

* * *

Rose leaned against the wall in the small bathroom. The cool tiles pressed against her back and through the thin material of the dress. Her face was wet – but she didn't really know whether it was because she'd washed after throwing up, or because she was crying. 

"I'm no expert," came Izzy's voice from the doorway, "but I think you need the Doctor more than you need me."

Rose shook her head silently. Izzy sat down next to her on the floor.

"I'm pregnant," Rose said after a long moment.

"Yes, you are," Izzy agreed quietly.

"And I'm not just pregnant," Rose continued, as if she hadn't heard her cousin. "I'm pregnant with a Gallifreyan baby. Another Time Lord. The Doctor – he's the only one of his kind left, Izzy. And now there's this baby, and it's such a big thing, and then – " She shook her head blindly. "The time rift," she muttered. "The time rift to Gallifrey. How could I have done that?"

"I don't know," Izzy said. "Humans can't do stuff like that."

Rose shifted slightly. "Izzy…a lot's happened since I've been traveling with the Doctor. Things that I can't explain, that even the Doctor doesn't understand…" She sighed. "Izzy…I'm not exactly human any more."

Izzy blinked several times, then frowned. "How is that possible?" she demanded. "Jackie and Pete – they're human, and you're their child, so –"

"It's complicated," Rose cut her off. "Things happened…with the Doctor, and with the Daleks, and –"

"Who're the Daleks?" Izzy demanded.

"But it's too hard to explain," Rose ended. "And I wouldn't know where to begin, Izzy. But the point is – if I've somehow brought Gallifrey back into the universe, in any way…"

"You think he'll leave you," Izzy guessed astutely. "You're an idiot, Rose Tyler, you know that?"

Rose closed her eyes. "Izzy…"

"He loves you. Everyone knows it. Everyone can see it. It's obvious." Izzy shook her head in disbelief. "Have you even seen the way he looks at you? I mean, bloody hell! He married you, when he knew he'd have to face Auntie Jackie about it! If that isn't love, I don't know what is!"

Rose shrugged and started crying again. Izzy hugged her awkwardly.

"Rose."

They both looked up at the doorway. The Doctor stood there, hands in his pockets.

"You need some sleep," he told her gently. "And we should get you checked out in the infirmary."

"I'm alright," Rose muttered, drying her eyes with her sleeve. She stood up and went into his welcoming arms. She rested her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat. The Doctor glanced at Izzy, then maneuvered Rose out of the bathroom and slowly walked her to their bedroom.

"It's alright," he said softly, once they were lying on their bed. "It's alright to be upset, Rose."

"It's stupid," she muttered, curling up closer to him. "I guess this is why people say pregnant women are hormonal. Sorry."

"Don't be," he soothed her. "S'alright."

"Not really."

"Rose!"

A slow smile curled her mouth. "Sorry," she said, nearly giggling. "I'm alright, I am."

"I know."

That simple confidence in her, Rose mused, made everything alright again.

"So what've I done, then?" she asked. "With the rip to Gallifrey?" The Doctor paused just long enough for her to know that he didn't want to tell her. Stung, she pulled away from him. "Doctor?"

"It's complicated," he said heavily. "It's to do with what you did…Bad Wolf, and all that. But it'll wait for the morning, love. You need sleep." He stood up, careful not to dislodge her.

"Don't go," she said quickly. "I know Tim and Izzy're there, but..." She shook herself. "Never mind."

"I'll be back in three minutes," the Doctor promised, leaning down to kiss her. "I'll just get them to bedrooms, and make sure the time jumper's outside – we landed on its planet."

"Okay," Rose nodded. She rolled off the bed and started stripping after the Doctor had left. She pulled on clean pyjamas and climbed into the bed.

Then it happened.

_Rose, help me!_

Rose sat straight up, scanning the room. There were no communicators in here – the Doctor didn't like them in their bedroom. It wasn't the voice of the TARDIS – she'd heard that before, and this wasn't it. She had never heard this voice before, and yet she felt like she had always known it.

_Rose! Please! Help!_

But that voice she did know. It was someone who had traveled with them for a while after she and the Doctor had got married. He had become like a brother to her.

Jack Harkness.

She almost tripped over the duvet as she scrambled to get out of bed. She was out of the door and halfway down the corridor when she ran into the Doctor.

"Rose, what is it, what's wrong?" he demanded anxiously.

"Jack," she breathed. "I heard Jack."

* * *

Please review! 


	7. Day Six

Title: Domestic Space

Rating: T

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground'. You must have read that in order to understand this.

Notes 2: The Doctor doesn't do domestic, not even now he's married to Rose. But he's about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don't do families…

Notes 3: Okay, so this has gone and got complicated. Basically, the Rose in my head decided that she was Bad Wolf, that PotW happened in an AU kind of way, and that Jack was with them for a while. So basically, that all happened between Domestic Battleground and Domestic Space. There is going to be a sequel to this fic, moving away from the domestic roots and delving into Bad Wolf, Gallifrey, and the Doctor – not to mention the baby. So, um. points at Steviesun it's all her fault!

* * *

Day Six

* * *

Rose busied herself with making tea as the Doctor, Tim and Izzy had an argument. They were sitting at the kitchen table, having finished breakfast – which the Doctor had insisted on cooking. Rose had managed to keep it all down, for which she was very grateful.

After she'd told the Doctor what she'd heard, he'd whisked her off to the infirmary and run a battery of tests on her and the baby. He'd refused to tell her what half of them were for, choosing instead to distract her with a steady stream of chatter. Rose had allowed herself to be distracted.

She'd slept badly, dreaming of Jack and the Daleks and the tiny baby growing inside her – and she'd woken alone, which she hated.

Now her family were arguing about whether or not the Doctor should take Tim and Izzy home, and she had nearly had enough.

"You brought us, and we want to see this through," Izzy was saying. "This is so unfair!"

"I never said I was fair," the Doctor shot back. "It isn't safe for you two."

"But it is for Rose?" Tim countered.

"Rose is different," the Time Lord said implacably. "She knows the risks."

"Well, if you'd just explain to us what the risks are," Izzy began. Rose slammed the empty teapot down onto the kitchen counter. It smashed. She hissed and sucked at a cut on her palm.

"You alright?" the Doctor asked mildly. "What did the teapot ever do to you?"

"I'm fed up of you lot fighting," Rose said, not turning to look at them. "Doctor, Izzy's right. We brought them along, we can't just dump them home now." He started to protest, but she cut him off. "Doctor, please." She turned then. "I think we're going to need help," she whispered.

The Doctor leaned back in his chair, glancing away from them all. "You might be right," he admitted in a low voice. "I did some scans last night, after you'd gone to bed – I think Jack is in the rift. On Gallifrey."

"Who's Jack?" Tim asked.

"What's so bad about him being on Gallifrey?" Izzy demanded.

"Damn," Rose muttered, and wrapped her arms around herself. "It means we can't close the rift from the outside," she said in answer to Izzy.

"Which means we have to go inside, and see what's there," the Doctor added grimly.

"Which we really, really don't want to do," Rose completed. She crossed the kitchen and sat on the Doctor's lap, tucking her head under his chin. "Theta…"

"It'll be alright," he assured her. "Nip in, nip out. No problem."

"It's Gallifrey," she reminded him.

"I still don't understand it all," Tim spoke up. "So the planet was destroyed, yes?" The Doctor nodded wordlessly. "But you said that all its possibilities were destroyed – what does that mean?"

"It means that Gallifrey doesn't exist in any time," the Time Lord explained. "So there's no going back in time to a point in its past." He glanced down at his wife, who was pressed close against him. "But the possibilities have been reopened," he continued. "By Bad Wolf."

"And what's Bad Wolf?" Izzy asked.

"Me." The word dropped from Rose's mouth like a stone into a pond, rippling outwards. "I'm the Bad Wolf." Izzy blinked. Rose gave a small smile. "It's complicated," she added.

"Is this about what you were saying yesterday?" her cousin asked. "About you not being all human anymore?"

"Rose isn't human?" Tim said dumbly.

"Not really," Rose mumbled. She fiddled with her watch – the special time watch the Doctor had given her. "I should go feed Charlie." She pushed herself off him.

"You up to it?" the Doctor asked casually, catching at her hand.

She rolled her eyes at him. "He won't get fed, otherwise. I know you, Doctor."

"He likes you," the Doctor pointed out, entirely too reasonably. "And I can explain things here." A look passed between them, volumes being spoken. She nodded. "Right then, off you go," the Doctor directed.

Rose left the kitchen without a backwards glance and made her way down to the levels where Charlie roamed. She hadn't seen him since before they'd decided to go to Earth for her birthday, and she hoped he was around now. He was cuddly.

There weren't any signs of him in the usual places – no gnawed bones or discarded nests. The TARDIS cleaned most things up, Rose knew, so she didn't worry. Charlie would find her when he wanted to be found.

Apparently he wanted to be found five minutes later in the greenhouse on the fourth floor below the control room. Rose had bent over to pick up an abandoned mug – courtesy of the Doctor – and when she straightened, Charlie's furry arms wrapped around her.

"Hiya," she greeted. "You alright, Charlie?"

Charlie gave a soft wuffling noise that meant 'hello' and 'I'm alright'. She sighed and turned her head to rub her cheek against his soft fur.

"Sorry I haven't been down, things have been a bit rough," she told him. One of his furry paws patted gently at her stomach, and she nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to have a baby."

Charlie released her, and she turned to face the large, blue furry creature.

They'd found Charlie in a zoo on some far-flung planet, crouched into a cage far too small for him. Rose had immediately protested – the Doctor hadn't been far behind her, and they'd swiftly kidnapped the juvenile Sumptafarian. Charlie had since learned to trust the couple, and Rose in particular found him a very empathic companion at times.

Now he gave a soft grumbling growl, lilting upwards in a question.

"No, everything's fine," Rose assured him. "You're still safe. There's just been a few problems, is all." She stroked Charlie's arm. "Just some problems with time, that's all."

* * *

Rose found the kitchen empty on her return, so she made her way to the control room. Her family were gathered around a screen, the Doctor in between Tim and Izzy and pointing to something.

"That there, that's the physical evidence of the rift," he was explaining. "That's where we'll have to go to get Jack back."

"And Gallifrey's inside it?" Tim asked, trying to understand.

"Yeah, sort of," the Doctor nodded. He glanced up and smiled at Rose. "Charlie alright?" he checked.

Rose smiled warmly back at him and approached the group. "Yeah, he's fine," she said, answering the unasked question. "So what's going on? What're we doing?"

"We're going into the rift," he told her. "Soon as you're ready." He moved away from Tim and Izzy to slip his hands around her waist. "You alright?" he asked her in a low voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him. "Fed Charlie." She tilted her head for a kiss, which he gave to her before bounding back over to the console.

"Right then," he said, "into the rift we go. Might be a bit of a bumpy ride." He glanced up at Rose. "Sit down, strap yourself in," he advised. "Don't want to risk you falling over." Rose obeyed, causing the Doctor to raise his eyebrows slightly at her. He'd been expecting an objection. After a moment he turned back to the console and pulled a lever.

The TARDIS lurched sideways. Tim fell against Izzy, and the Doctor sprang around the console to twist a dial.

"Sorry," he called out. The TARDIS stabilized slightly. "Uh oh."

Rose clutched to the chair, hoping that the seatbelt wasn't quite as old as it looked and wouldn't fling her about. Nausea rose within her, and she closed her eyes against the flashing lights of the control room. The whole world seemed to tilt. Izzy was flung against one wall, Tim against another. The Doctor clung to the console with fierce determination.

"Shouldn't be long," he yelled. "Just a bit tricky, navigating rifts."

"I know," Rose called back, her stomach feeling as though it were ten feet above her. "Can we hurry it up a bit?"

The Doctor didn't bother to answer, but scarcely a few minutes later the TARDIS made a grinding sound and slowly shuddered to a halt.

"Are we there?" Izzy ventured into the silence that ensued.

"I think so," the Doctor nodded. He pulled a lever and went to Rose. His hands roved over her restlessly. "You alright?"

"Fine," Rose said, a little impatiently. "I've done this a hundred times before, you know."

"Over five thousand, actually," he threw out casually. "S'different now, though." He stood back as she undid her belt and moved to the console.

"This it then?" she asked. "We're on Gallifrey?"

"Yup." He joined her, and Tim and Izzy came closer as well. "Hold on." He tapped at a key, and the display screen lit up. "We're in the president's rooms," he muttered. "I wonder – " Someone came into view on the screen, and the Doctor gave a startled exclamation. "Impossible!"

"All of this is impossible," Tim interjected. The Doctor threw him a glare, and he shrugged apologetically.

"Who is she?" Rose asked hesitantly. "A Time Lady?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered briefly. "And I suppose if anyone might have an answer for me…"

"Doctor?" Rose prodded him. "Who is she?"

The Doctor didn't answer; he strode to the door of the TARDIS and flung it wide.

"Romana!" he declared in a loud, cheery voice. "Wonderful to see you!"

* * *

The woman standing over a desk at one side of the Presidential Suite had looked up when she heard the familiar sound of a TARDIS materialising. The sound itself alarmed her – no TARDIS was supposed to materialise in someone else's private rooms, and considering everything that had been going on, her security was supposed to have been doubled.

When the TARDIS did materialise, however, she gave a surprised cry and raised her hand to her mouth in a very human gesture.

The man that practically exploded out of the TARDIS was not someone she had seen before, but she knew who he was.

"Romana!" he greeted. "Wonderful to see you!"

"Doctor?" she said cautiously, testing her conviction.

"Yup!" The Doctor crossed the room to her in a few strides and swept her into his arms. "You've no idea how good it is to see you!" Romana, not quite knowing how to respond to this, held herself stiffly. After a moment, the Doctor released her and looked her over. "You're doing well on regenerations," he approved. "Still on your fourth."

"And you," she managed, "this must be your…eighth body?"

"Ninth," the Doctor told her, a strange look crossing his face momentarily. A gentle cough distracted him, and he turned to his TARDIS. "Ah, Rose. Come on, then!"

A humanoid woman, evidently called Rose, came to stand next to the Doctor. Two other humanoids followed her – there was a family resemblance, Romana noted.

"Romana, these are Tim and Izzy," the Doctor introduced, waving a hand at the pair. "And this is Rose. You lot, this is Romana. Or Romanadvoratrelundar, properly."

Rose glanced Romana over, and moved slightly closer to the Doctor. "Hi," she said quietly.

"Hello," Romana greeted. "You must be the Doctor's latest Companions."

"Not exactly," Rose said, a hint of prickliness in her tone. The other humanoid female – Izzy, Romana reminded herself – reached out to touch Rose's arm.

The Doctor glanced from Rose to Romana and back. He rolled his eyes, and put his arm around Rose. "Rose is my wife," he said firmly.

Romana had known the Doctor through several regenerations, but she realised with that sentence that he still had the capacity to surprise her.

"But – it's not allowed," she said weakly. "She's not a Time Lady."

"No, I'm not," Rose said, raising her chin defensively. Romana closed her eyes briefly, then sighed and pulled herself together.

"Not that I'm not pleased to see you, Doctor," she began, "but we're in the middle of a situation, and I don't think your presence here would be appreciated by everyone."

The Doctor looked away from her for a moment. Rose leaned against him, letting her weight reassure and support him.

"I can't leave," he said in a low, hollow voice. "There's…it's complicated, Romana." He looked back at her, straight at her in a way that he rarely had in the regeneration she had known best. "I can't leave. Not until I've sorted it out."

"Sorted what out?" Romana demanded. "Doctor, why are you here?"

"That's the thing," the Doctor said uncomfortably. "I can't tell you." He glanced at Rose. "But while I'm figuring some things out," he said slowly, "we may as well get Rose checked out."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Oh, may we? We don't even know –" She broke off with an awkward glance at Romana.

"Everything's the way I remember it," he assured her. "And what better place to make sure you and the baby are alright?"

"I thought you did that already," Rose objected. "I don't want more tests, Doctor!"

"Baby?" Romana interjected, hoping that she was actually having a dream, and that none of this was happening. "She's with child? With your child, Doctor?" She moved around the desk and sat down, ignoring all the protocol she had ever learned. "Oh, Rassilon preserve us."

"What is it?" the Doctor demanded.

Romana looked up at him, lips pursed slightly. "Doctor…I should not tell you."

"Romana, I've known you for years," the Doctor reminded her. "Don't you trust me?"

"It's more than you and me," Romana said forcefully. "All of time is at stake! The very fabric of the universe!"

The Doctor took a step towards her. "Tell me," he said commandingly. "Right now. This could be worse than you think."

Romana drew herself up. "I hardly think –" she began haughtily, only to be interrupted by her old mentor.

"You don't understand," he snapped. "This shouldn't exist! None of this! It was destroyed! All of Gallifrey was wiped out, and you and every other Gallifreyan went with it!" He stopped, breathing heavily, and strode away from them. He leaned against his TARDIS, against the familiar blue police box, and Romana stared at him. Rose wrapped her arms about herself, wanting to comfort him. Tim and Izzy stood awkwardly, remaining silent.

Silence ruled for long moments, and Rose almost felt as though her husband was purposefully slowing time in the room, so as to give himself precious minutes to regain his masks. Finally he turned back to Romana, face still a picture of agony.

"I shouldn't have said that," he said quietly. "Please, Romana, forget I said that."

Romana rose, rounded the desk, and moved towards him. She didn't touch him – both because of her training and because she knew Rose would take it the wrong way – but for once, she wanted to.

"What happened?" she asked gently. "You can't have come back to change the timeline, you know better than that when it comes to Gallifrey."

"The war," he muttered after a long moment. "With the Daleks." Romana's eyes widened slightly.

"But there is no war," she told him. "Skirmishes, yes, but no real war."

"There will be. There was." The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS again. "Gallifrey's possibilities were wiped out, then a rift was opened, leading here."

"That's impossible," Romana said with certainty. "If a planet's possibilities are wiped from time, there is no way of reaching that planet."

"We were wrong," the Doctor told her curtly. "We were wrong about a lot of things. And it happened, Romana. This – Gallifrey, you, the president's rooms – none of this should exist." He looked at her with jaded eyes. "I don't know if you're really the Romana I knew," he told her candidly. "Or how this happened."

"It's impossible," Romana repeated.

"Tell her that," the Doctor said with a sudden grin, nodding his head at Rose. She smiled slightly and moved next to him. "Somehow she directed the rift here."

"How?" was all Romana could say.

"Rose is complicated," Tim remarked dryly. "I don't suppose there's any food around here, is there?"

"Always thinking with your stomach," Izzy ribbed him. "There's important things going on here."

"So?" Tim wasn't fazed. "I'm hungry. And Rose should eat something too, she didn't have breakfast."

The Doctor turned a reproachful gaze upon Rose, who raised her eyebrows and looked at Romana.

"So we're here to figure out what I did," she said. "And close the rift. Somehow." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans and looked at the Time Lady earnestly. "Will you help us?"

For a moment, Romana felt drawn to this human woman. It was as if invisible currents in the air – electricity, perhaps – were pulling her towards Rose, making her want to help.

She shook herself free.

"Of course," she said. "If what the Doctor says is true, then it is my duty as a Time Lady to help." The Doctor nodded at her. "And," she added, "my honour as the Doctor's friend."

* * *

"I'm sorry about earlier," Rose offered to the slender Time Lady, later in the day when they all sat eating an evening meal. They'd spent the day mostly in the TARDIS, with the Doctor explaining what had happened to Romana. It had been stressful, and more than once Rose had yelled at Romana for being insensitive.

"It's just…I started travelling with him just a short time afterwards, and I know how hard it's been for him," she continued.

"That's quite alright," Romana reassured her. "I let my curiosity run away with me. It is a unique situation, you understand."

Rose nodded, glancing up at the Doctor. He was on the other side of the room, just out of earshot, gazing out of a window at his homeworld. She suspected that there'd be tears later, in the privacy of their bedroom, but knew that the Doctor would keep his mask in place for as long as possible.

"I know," she answered Romana. "But still…be careful, yeah?"

"Of course."

Izzy wandered over to join them, nibbling at something that was a little like a prawn cracker.

"So, when did you travel with the Doctor?" she asked Romana, sitting down without invitation. "And what was all that earlier about regeneration?"

"It's something Time Lords do," Rose answered her cousin.

"And I travelled with the Doctor many centuries ago," Romana added. "When he was in his fourth regeneration. He is on his ninth body now."

Izzy clearly didn't understand this garbled explanation, and she shrugged and leaned back in the chair. "Right. And now you're president here?"

"President Elect, yes."

"And who's here that you didn't think would be pleased to see the Doctor?" Izzy asked shrewdly. Rose sighed. She'd hoped that her cousin's notoriously perfect phonetic memory wouldn't be used in this situation.

"Izzy," she said quietly. "That's probably not a good idea."

"It is highly unlikely that you wouldn't know them anyway," Romana pointed out to both women. "Most of them are Time Lords."

"Most," Rose nodded. "But not all. I know for a fact that Captain Jack Harkness is here somewhere."

Romana tried to remember that the day had been full of surprises, and that she should expect as much from anyone travelling with the Doctor. But –

"How," she asked wearily, "did you know about that?"

At the window, the Doctor stared out at the reddish landscape and screamed inside.

* * *

To be continued...! 


	8. Day Seven

Title: Domestic Space

Rating: T

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground'. You must have read that in order to understand this.

Notes 2: The Doctor doesn't do domestic, not even now he's married to Rose. But he's about to find out just how domestic things can get – and Rose will find out just why he and the TARDIS don't do families…

* * *

Day Seven

* * *

Something was tickling her nose.

Rose batted at it without opening her eyes.

The thing returned after a few moments, trailing over her cheek. Rose flung her arm out and was rewarded with a pained grumble and a thud as someone fell off the bed and onto the floor.

"Give over," she ordered, yawning and opening her eyes to see Izzy sprawled on the floor. A quick glance to the other side of the bed revealed what she had already suspected; the Doctor was already up and working. "Morning," she added belatedly as Izzy stood up.

"Morning," her cousin greeted cheerfully. "The Doctor sent me to wake you up. Said to say that he's busy…doing something. Something about a vortex?"

"The time vortex," Rose mumbled. Something flickered at the edge of her senses; she'd been feeling strange ever since they'd arrived on Gallifrey, but she hadn't mentioned it to the Doctor. She knew his over-protective tendencies too well!

"The time vortex," she repeated, sitting up and blinking. "What about the time vortex?"

"No idea," Izzy said breezily. "You gonna get dressed? Romana's called a doctor or something to take a look at you, make sure the baby's alright."

Rose's hands went instinctively to her abdomen, over her womb. "The baby's fine," she murmured. "Um. Clothes."

"Just throw on anything," Izzy said, a hint of impatience creeping into her voice. "I want to get back, d'you mind?"

"I'll be there in a bit, tell him," Rose nodded. Izzy left; a moment later Rose dashed to the toilet. Morning sickness, she decided, was not fun.

She stood in the shower for long minutes, fingers exploring every inch of her stomach. Logically she knew that there was no way for her to feel anything to do with the baby yet, but she knew that inside her, a tiny cluster of cells was growing. Would grow to form a tiny baby, and then a child, and then a person.

"I create life," she murmured. Was this what she was? Bad Wolf, the mother? She'd always thought of it as Bad Wolf the destroyer. She'd wiped out the Dalek fleet with barely a thought, she and the TARDIS, and whilst she'd done nothing of the kind since then, the feeling had lingered.

She closed her eyes, remembering those fateful hours when everything had changed. The Doctor – her husband – had sent her away. She'd had to return to him, she hadn't had a choice, and the TARDIS had helped her in the only way the time ship could.

She shook herself free of the memories and scrubbed shampoo into her scalp. Suffice it to say, faint echoes of the power she'd controlled then still lingered, most notably in a semi-telepathic connection to the TARDIS and a certain affinity for understanding time and space.

She rinsed off, stepped out of the shower, and dried. The Doctor, she knew, would be waiting for her. She'd created the mess – regardless of the time jumper's involvement – and without her, sorting it out would be even harder than it already was.

Rose touched her stomach again gently. Perhaps, she thought, she'd done this for the baby.

She dressed quickly and made her way through the TARDIS to the control room. It was empty, but the door was ajar and she could hear voices outside.

The sight that greeted her, when she stepped out of the TARDIS, made her double up with laughter. Izzy was sitting on Tim's shoulders, waving her hands about wildly. The Doctor sat at a table, watching them with a sort of puzzled amusement. Romana was staring.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Rose demanded, gasping for breath.

"Trying to see if we've understood," Tim said, a little grumpy. "Or at least, fatso here is." Izzy squawked and kicked at him. "I'll drop you," he threatened.

"You won't," Izzy said with certainty. "Move over to the table, I want to get down." Tim obliged; Izzy clambered off him and jumped down off the table. "Rose! You took your time!"

"I wanted a shower," Rose said patiently. "I didn't think there was any rush." She looked at the Doctor inquiringly. He shook his head. "Right. Then I want breakfast. Or a cup of tea, at least."

"Milk, one sugar," the Doctor grinned at her. "Typical."

"And you'll have a coffee, no sugar," she retorted. "Don't think I don't know your routines, Doctor." She smiled to soften her words. "C'mon, children," she said teasingly then to her cousins. "Let's go make breakfast. Romana, d'you want anything to eat?"

"No, thank you," said the Lady President in bemusement.

"Nothing for me, if you're cooking," the Doctor slipped in. Rose stuck her tongue out at him. "I can think of a better use for that tongue, Rose Tyler." She blushed and disappeared into the TARDIS. Smirking, Izzy and Tim followed her.

* * *

Although the Doctor had known that Jack was somewhere on Gallifrey, he was still completely taken off guard when the confident human strolled into Romana's rooms and greeted the president.

"Hey, Romana," the time traveller said, not seeing the Doctor. "Any news?"

"Just a little," Romana said dryly. She looked from Jack to the Doctor, and back. "You never told me you'd travelled with the Doctor," she remarked.

Jack was slightly taken aback. "No," he said slowly. "I mean, you know there's things I can't – "

"Jack."

Jack turned so quickly he almost fell over, his expression so comically shocked that the Doctor had to grin.

"Doctor?" Jack breathed. A grin spread across his face. "Doctor!" A moment later he was across the room, hugging the Time Lord tight. The Doctor held him just as close. "You're alive! You're here!"

"Yep," the Doctor agreed. They separated and looked each other over. "You're looking good, Captain. I'm sorry I didn't come to find you sooner – things got a little out of hand."

"I never found out what happened," Jack said. "Just the Daleks were gone, and then you were gone, and I got down to Earth and – " He cut himself off, shaking his head. "Doesn't matter now. I can't believe you're here! On Gallifrey."

"Yeah." The Doctor's face didn't change, but Jack knew him well enough to know that he was keeping a tight rein on his emotions. "Gallifrey. What do you know about what's going on here?"

"Not as much as I'd like," Jack admitted. "I haven't been able to do too much from here, because of –" He paused and glanced at Romana.

"I know that Gallifrey was, or will be, destroyed," Romana said quietly. "Please, do not hesitate to speak of it."

"Right." Jack shifted slightly, a little uncomfortable. "Well, like I said, I've not been able to do too much in case I contaminated the time line. What've you got from your end, Doctor?"

"A time jumper – you've heard of those?" Jack nodded in the affirmative. The Doctor continued. "One of them stowed away on the TARDIS, then managed to open a rift in space and time."

"But hold on, that wouldn't explain it leading to Gallifrey," Jack said, catching on quickly.

"No, it wouldn't," the Doctor agreed. "There's something about Rose that made it happen."

"Rose is here?" Jack's face lit up, then he shook it off. "Never mind. What about Rose?"

"She looked into the time vortex and destroyed the Daleks – wiped them from time," the Doctor explained. "And it left her slightly more than human. I think she – or Bad Wolf – did this subconsciously."

Jack gave a low whistle. "That's…pretty far-fetched, Doctor."

"Are you saying that a human looked into the time vortex?" Romana demanded incredulously. She hadn't heard this part before. "And survived?"

"It was a bit more complicated than that," the Doctor said defensively. "Anyway, that's the gist of it." He smiled at Jack. "It really is good to see you," he said. "And Rose will be over the moon." He frowned slightly. "Unless she starts crying."

"Uh…" Jack shook his head in bewilderment.

"Rose is pregnant," Romana said succinctly.

"Uh…huh." Jack raised his eyebrows at the Doctor. "About time too. Although I can't quite picture you with kids." He gave a slow grin. "Does Rose's mom know yet?"

The Doctor visibly shuddered. "No," he said fervently. "And I won't be there when Rose tells her!"

Romana hid a smile. She'd heard a little about Jackie Tyler from Tim and Izzy, the day before.

"Gentlemen," she began, "although I know you have a lot to catch up on…" She trailed off suggestively. The Doctor nodded.

"Right," he agreed. "Back to work. I'll go get Rose and her cousins."

"No, let me," Jack interjected, still grinning. The Doctor grinned back at him, nodded, and shooed him into the TARDIS.

* * *

Izzy shook her head. "I didn't like that part," she said. "I mean, the costumes and the scenery and everything was great – but you could seriously tell that some of the dancers were just plastic dummies."

"Did I ever tell you about the time the shop dummies came alive and tried to kill me?" Rose asked idly. "That was when I met the Doctor."

Tim frowned. "What does that have to do with Phantom of the Opera?" he wanted to know.

"Nothing, I was just saying," Rose shrugged, and nibbled at her toast. "I think you're right, Izzy, but it would've been really hard to stage it with loads of people. That's where the film did it better."

"True," Tim said, reaching across Rose for the jam. She batted him away. "Sorry. What did you think about the bit where they go down to the Phantom's lair, or whatever?"

"That was good," Rose said positively. "S'really hard to have water on the stage, but they managed it really well."

"Yeah," Izzy agreed. "Tim, pass the marmite." Tim did so with a look of disgust. "Anyway, I had a good time," she concluded. "That restaurant was really nice."

"Wasn't it just," Rose grinned. "The Doctor took me there one time, before Jack came along, and then we went there with him, too – couple hundred years in the future. Jack flirted with everyone in sight, and the Doctor almost made him leave."

"Jack sounds interesting," Tim grinned.

"I'm not sure interesting is quite the right word," Rose mused. "Unique."

"I don't know, I think outrageous fits me better," came a voice from the kitchen doorway. Rose looked up, eyes wide, then with a clatter of china and silverware she launched herself from her seat and into Jack's welcoming arms.

"Jack, Jack, Jack," she mumbled, arms around his neck, clutching him tight. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, lifting her up and spinning her around. "Oh, Jack!"

"Rose," he said softly. "Oh, Rose, I missed you so much." When Rose didn't let go, he gently set her back onto the ground and flashed a smile at Tim and Izzy. "Hi, you must be Rose's cousins. The Doctor said you should head on out there; we'll join you guys in a bit."

"Sure," Izzy nodded, suddenly subdued at seeing her cousin react this way. "See you guys in a bit." She grabbed a last bit of toast and left the kitchen. Tim trailed her, glancing over his shoulder to see Rose and Jack still hugging in the kitchen doorway.

It took long minutes for Rose to release Jack; when she did, they had somehow migrated to the large, comfortable couch that had been placed in the kitchen when Jack had been with them.

"Hey," Jack said softly, wiping a tear from Rose's cheek with his thumb. "I hope those are good tears." She nodded, but didn't stop crying. "Oh, Rose, sweetheart. I missed you."

"I missed you too," Rose managed. "We were going to come look for you – but when we got to Satellite Five you weren't there, and the Doctor wasn't well, and then things just started happening, and – "

"Don't worry about it," Jack overruled. "I'm here now."

"Yeah," Rose nodded. She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes and cheeks on her sleeves. "I knew you were on Gallifrey – that's why we came in, instead of just closing up the rift," she told him. "I heard you."

Jack frowned and cupped her cheek with his hand. "How, Rose?"

"I heard you calling out for help," she enlarged. "It's part of this whole…Bad Wolf thing." She sniffed, still trying to stop crying.

"We called, but we didn't think anything would come of it," Jack admitted after a moment. "But that doesn't matter right now." He tugged at her hand and she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "So, I hear you're going to have a baby," he said gently.

"Yeah," Rose confirmed. "I don't know how far I'm along, but…" Her hand drifted to her abdomen. "I'm pregnant."

"Do I get to be Uncle Jack?" he teased her.

"Definitely," Rose said, grinning. She sat up and hugged him again. "I missed you," she admitted. "I never told you – "

"I always knew," Jack overrode her. "Of course I knew, Rose." He held her face in his hands and kissed her gently. "You are worth everything," he said, almost reverently.

"Oi, hands off my wife."

Rose turned red-rimmed eyes towards the Doctor. She was beaming; the Doctor's face was softened by a smile.

"It's Jack," she said – a simple statement, not in explanation or excuse.

"It is," the Doctor agreed. He held out his arms; Rose and Jack stood up and went to him. He drew them close to him, hugging them both. "It's about time he came back," he added, speaking to Rose but looking at Jack. "Bit extreme, to find us on Gallifrey, but – "

And then all of a sudden he had collapsed onto the floor, breath choking him as sobs wracked his frame. Rose dropped to her knees, clutching his hand; Jack did the same, murmuring nonsensical comfort words.

Eventually the storm passed, and Jack left to assure Romana and the others that nothing was wrong. The Doctor lay on the floor, head resting in Rose's lap.

"D'you want to talk about it?" Rose asked gently after a while, stroking his hair lightly.

"No," the Doctor said quickly. After a moment he added, "There's nothing to talk about."

"Please don't lie to me," Rose entreated. "Doctor – Theta. It's me."

"Oh, Rose." He shifted slightly, pressed his face against her stomach. He imagined that he could hear the baby's double heart-beat. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" He trailed off and took a shaky breath. "It's Gallifrey," he muttered. "It's my home."

"Yes," Rose nodded, continuing to stroke his hair. "It's real, you know. It's not going to disappear again. I won't let it."

The Doctor smiled against her stomach, but it was a bitter smile. "You can't do everything, love."

"I can try," Rose returned. She tugged at his earlobe and he sat up to look at her. "We're going to need a nursery for the baby," she told him, changing the subject completely.

"I'm sure there's one around here somewhere," the Doctor said, looking faintly shocked at the practical suggestion. "And there's a while yet, Rose."

"Still," Rose shrugged. "It needs to be close to our room. And I want to decorate it."

The Doctor winced slightly. "What, pink for a girl, blue for a boy?"

Rose scoffed. "You know me better than that," she reproved. "I was thinking yellow – like the houses on Sontarellia." He looked at her, love and awe on his face, and she flushed slightly. "What?"

"You, Rose Tyler, are amazing," he said softly. "Come here." He pulled her towards him and they clung together in a tangle of limbs. He kissed her and she held onto him tight. When he drew back, allowing her to breathe, she smiled at him.

"I'm never letting you go," the Doctor muttered. "Never, Rose."

"I'm never going," she reassured him. "Can't get rid of me."

* * *

The Doctor, Jack and Romana were bouncing ideas off each other. Tim and Izzy were in the TARDIS somewhere, keeping out of the way.

Rose sat on the floor, leaning against the TARDIS, and trying to follow what was going on.

It wasn't easy. Half of the things they were saying had more syllables than she had fingers, and besides that, she kept drifting into a doze, only to be woken by someone – usually Jack – saying something particularly enthusiastically.

There was something nagging at the edge of her senses, much like the feeling she'd had when she'd discovered that the Time Jumper was aboard the TARDIS. She couldn't tell what it was exactly, but she knew something was just a little wrong.

Rose sighed and shifted. She should really mention it to the Doctor, she knew. But he didn't need to be fussing over her right now; from the looks of things, he and Romana had hit upon something.

"And if the rift was temporally interdimensional," Romana was saying, "then the rift would be stable."

"But that's only theoretical," Jack objected. "Temporal interdimensional physics is – "

"You keep forgetting, Jack, we're Time Lords," the Doctor said with a wry grin. "We've been travelling time and space since before you humans had crawled out of the muck." He glanced over at Rose, as he had taken to doing every so often, and she stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, stop it, you're not exactly human anymore."

"Not quite," she agreed mildly. "We getting anywhere, then?"

"No," said Jack and Romana in unison, even as the Doctor proclaimed to the contrary. The Time Lord scowled at them.

"We are," he claimed. "Aren't you listening to yourselves?"

"Nah, you're too loud," Rose teased him. She hoisted herself upright using the TARDIS as a balance, and joined them at the desk. "So you've worked out that, theoretically, the rift could exist because of the power of the time vortex," she said.

"Yeah," Jack nodded. "But that theory is seriously flawed – it was disproved years ago."

"But Rose had the time vortex running through her brain," Romana reminded him. "And it created something entirely different within her. An unknown. And the Doctor claims that she affected where the rift went."

"But I don't see how I could have done that," Rose objected. "I don't know anything about time rifts, not really – and nothing about the time vortex." She shot the Doctor a slightly aggrieved look. "Thanks to himself."

"It's dangerous," he said briefly. His fingers tapped idly on the desk. "You know that, Rose. We don't know enough about what you did."

Rose nodded acceptance. "Yeah," she agreed. "Right. But still – how could I have done it? This is more than wiping out the Daleks, or bringing Jack back to life." She glanced with a smile at her friend, who nodded at her. "I'm not powerful enough to pull a planet into existence from nothing." The Doctor didn't look at her. "I'm not," she repeated, a little less certain. "Doctor?"

"Rose…" He sighed and looked straight at her. "We don't know what you're capable of," he said truthfully. "I have no idea. Before, it didn't seem to be so important to find out – but now you're doing more, probably because of the baby."

Rose hugged herself. "I can't do this stuff," she said, almost pleading. "I'm not – not even Bad Wolf. I'm just me."

"You're not just anyone," Jack said soothingly, standing up and hugging her. "You're Rose. You're my sister. But you're not the same girl that left London, all that time ago. You know that."

Rose buried her face in his chest. "Yeah," she mumbled. "Things are changing so quickly."

"That's the way change is," Romana spoke up. "It comes more quickly than we would like, always, and leaves us wishing for the past. But you wouldn't want to be the way you were, Rose, would you?"

Rose pulled away from Jack to look at the Doctor. "No," she said softly. "I wouldn't." She took a deep breath. "But we need to find out what I can do," she said firmly. "If I opened a rift to Gallifrey – re-opened its possibilities – then who knows what else I might do without meaning? Next thing you know, I'll be bringing the Daleks back, or destroying planets, or anything."

The Doctor nodded. "You're right, of course." He frowned thoughtfully, glancing out of the window at the red Gallifreyan landscape. "We might have to do that before sorting out the rift, as well."

"I agree," Romana said. "To do otherwise would be dangerous, and possibly detrimental to Rose's health." The Doctor looked at her, alarmed. "She directed the rift," the Time Lady said gently, "and you yourself said that she has a link to Gallifrey that you can't explain."

Rose raised her eyebrows at the Doctor, who squirmed slightly.

"Those tests I did the other day," he muttered. "Some of them were to do with the telepathic connection you have with the TARDIS – and it's got bigger."

"Got bigger how?"

Jack shook his head. "Doctor – I'm confused. You obviously haven't caught me up on everything." Rose pulled his arms around her again, and he hugged her tightly. "Rose?"

"I don't know," she muttered. "It's complicated."

"Obviously," Romana remarked dryly. "However, I believe now would be a suitable time to pause for a meal. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. I'm sure your cousins are getting bored now, as well," she added to Rose.

Rose arched an eyebrow. "You've been in the TARDIS; did you ever get bored?"

Romana smiled a rather wicked smile. "No, the Doctor was always the one with the short attention span."

"I did not have a short attention span!" the Doctor said in outrage, sitting straight up. "Romana, take that back!"

"How could she?" Izzy said from the TARDIS door. "She'd be lying if she did." Rose grinned; Tim stuck his head out of the door.

"Is it safe?" he asked cautiously. "Have you stopped with the technobabble?"

"Just about," Jack grinned, releasing Rose and looking Tim over. "We're about to go find something to eat. You coming?" Rose jabbed at him with her elbow. "Ow!" Jack complained.

"Stop flirting with my cousin," she said sternly.

"I wasn't flirting," he protested half-heartedly. He smiled at her; he'd missed the good-natured teasing.

"Food," Izzy said plaintively. "Please. Now."

Romana looked at the Doctor. "Would you like to eat here, or in the dining room?" she asked. "People will have to know about you at some point." The Doctor shrugged. "The dining room, then." She rose. "Tim, Izzy, please follow me." She headed towards the outer door, but before she got there it slid open and a slender woman stepped through. She was about Jack's age, with short, dark hair and wide eyes.

"Romana, have you seen –" she began, but was cut off by the Doctor.

"Susan?"

* * *

The End.

To be continued in 'Domestic Travels'. D'you want a tease? I'll give you a tease.

* * *

_The Doctor stared in pure disbelief. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible. She hadn't been on Gallifrey when it had been destroyed, she'd been on Earth, but she should have been wiped from time with the planet._

"_Susan?" he repeated in shock. _

_The woman – Susan – looked at him, a faint frown drawing her eyebrows together. For a long moment it seemed as though she wouldn't recognise him, then her mouth fell open._

"_Grandfather?" she whispered. He gave a single nod, a jerk of his head. She took a step towards him, then faltered. "Grandfather?" she repeated._

_"Susan," he whispered. "Oh, Susan." _

_And then suddenly she was hugging him tight, and he was clutching on to her as if he'd never held her before. And they were crying and laughing and half-formed words tumbled from their mouths.

* * *

_


End file.
